Naruto: The Broken Ninja
by princechaz2011
Summary: Danzo succeeds in recruiting Naruto into ROOT, but soon, ROOT is no more, and Naruto is left to fend for himself once more. Broken and alone, he leaves the village. One day, however, war approaches, and the only hope for the Leaf Village is Naruto. NaruxOC. Not yaoi!
1. Prologue

**This is **_**not**_** part of the White Ops series. This is stand alone. I plan to update twice a month on this story. I hope you like it. Please read and review!**

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Prologue**

The Third Hokage sighed. He had not wanted to be so aggressive toward Danzo, but he didn't have a choice. Danzo was trying harder and harder to get the four-year old Naruto into ROOT, and he wouldn't have it. Naruto was not a weapon. He was a child. One who would grow up into a great ninja. He and Danzo had just finished another argument about the boy, and he was sure that Danzo would bring it up again at the council meeting in five minutes. He sighed as he put on the red and white Hokage hat and walked into the council room. The other council members, including Danzo, were already there.

"Alright. Let us begin. Today's order of business is to decide how we will handle the sudden increase in local coyote population. I suppose we will—"

"That's enough of this nonsense!"

"Danzo, what is the meaning of this?"

"I'm stopping your foolishness. I move that the Nine-Tails brat be admitted to ROOT. Immediately."

"Danzo, how many times have I told you? The boy is not a weapon."

"Sarutobi," said Koharu. "We must hear out Lord Danzo on this matter."

"I will not," replied the Hokage. "There is nothing to discuss. I will not allow the boy to be admitted into ROOT. The Fourth Hokage would not have allowed it!"

"The Fourth Hokage is gone, Sarutobi. There is no one to confirm his will. That evidence is merely hearsay. The boy could be the strongest warrior this village has ever seen. I will teach him to protect himself from those who would look down upon him."

"I veto this nonsense," said the Third Hokage.

"Council, I believe the time has come for us to veto the Third on this matter. We may become the strongest village ever."

The Third felt sweat forming on the back of his neck. His nerves were in pieces, something that hadn't happened since the Nine-tails attacked. He had lost control. There was nothing he could do. _Minato, I'm so sorry._

As the council sided with Danzo, the old warhawk grinned. He had won!


	2. Chapter 1

**Okay so here's the first chapter. Enjoy. Please Read and Review!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 1**

Twelve-year-old Fox confidently strode through the underground halls of Danzo's ROOT base. He wore standard ANBU clothing with his mask at his side. He had been summoned by Danzo for a special S-rank mission. It was about time, too. It had been nearly a month since his last S-rank mission and he was itching for a good fight. He stepped into Danzo's office, a dark room lit only by candles. Danzo sat behind his massive oak desk. He smiled at Fox.

"Good to see you, Fox."

"And you, Lord Danzo."

"Fox, over the past eight years, we here at ROOT have raised you to be a ruthless, unmatched, killing machine. I have decided that it is time for you to go on a long undercover mission. This is an S-rank undercover mission. You will be joining a four-man cell consisting of one jonin and two genin."

At this, Fox looked confused.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I would do such a thing."

Fox nodded.

"I believe that that old fool Hiruzen is up to something. At every turn, he has stopped my attempts to recruit a young shinobi in the village. You are aware of Sasuke Uchiha, are you not?"

Fox nodded again.

"Good. Ever since you joined us, I have wanted Uchiha to be part of ROOT. However, Hiruzen has foiled my plans at every turn. Even worse, because the boy is the "precious Uchiha," the villagers are siding with him. They feared you, making it much easier for me to drag you in, but they love the Uchiha. The Uchiha has been placed on a squad with Kakashi Hatake as the jonin instructor and his teammate is Sakura Haruno. I have impressed upon the council to allow me to insert you onto the team to make it even. Once I told them that you had full control over your powers, they were more than happy, especially since you will be extra protection for Sasuke.

"Fox, you are to spy on this team for me. You will be alerting me to each of the lessons that Kakashi teaches and you will act as a genin. It has already been cleared with the council. Hiruzen was not happy, but he will allow it. Any questions?"

"What about the Chunin Exams, when they come around?"

"You will not compete. We will deal with that when the time comes."

"If Kakashi or the Haruno interfere?"

"Don't kill them. Hiruzen would march in here and dismantle the entire facility. Try to act as an ordinary genin."

"Will Kakashi be aware of my…position?"

"Yes. He should be under orders not to interfere, but I doubt that will last long. The genin will not be aware. To them, you are just some random transfer genin."

"Very well."

"Get some rest, Fox. You'll need it. Oh, and use your real name for this mission."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."


	3. Chapter 2

**Okay, here's the second chapter. I know that these chapters are short, but they will get longer over time. Before I start, I want to respond to my reviewers.**

**To Belle-kurama-style-bankai, thanks for the review. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story.**

**To Kyuubi-Sama, thanks for the advice. Had I wanted to push a romance aspect, I would have taken your advice. The story is going to focus on more of a brotherly bond between two of the main characters. While there will be an OC brought in in later chapters as Naruto's romance, that romance will only be the focus for a few chapters. When I had originally planned this story, it was going to be a romance, but after reading a few stories, I felt that the romance aspect was too cliche. Thanks again!**

**Now, as a note, I will be posting one or two more chapters today. Please R&R. I would like to point out also that after the first 7-8 chapters, there will be a large time-skipped. The happenings of that time will only be summarized before moving into the main time and plot of the story. Thanks for the support!**

**I don't own Naruto!**

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**Chapter 2**

"Okay, you three. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I will be your jonin instructor," said a tall man with silver hair. He seemed to be keeping a wary eye on Naruto (aka Fox). "Now, before we get started, I want to get to know you guys a little bit. I'll start. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies… Your turn, Uchiha."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone."

Fox just shook his head. This kid had problems. Kakashi pointed at the girl next.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. As for things I like…" she glanced at Sasuke. "As for things I don't like… there's Ino…. And my dream," she once again glanced at Sasuke. "And my hobbies…" Sasuke again.

Kakashi and Fox sweat-dropped. Fox couldn't believe the team that his leader had placed him on. Sure, being on Kakashi Hatake's team was interesting, but these two genin were insane. Finally Kakashi glanced at Fox and said, "Your turn, kid."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki." At this statement, he noticed a slight, hardly noticeable flash of surprise at the use of his real name. "Things I like are ramen and training. Things I don't like are smart mouth jerks who think they're better than everyone and idiots who don't follow orders. My dream is to be a great ninja, and my hobby is… well, you don't want to know."

Kakashi sighed. "Alright, team, go home and rest. Meet at the training grounds at dawn, and don't eat breakfast, otherwise you'll puke it up."

Kakashi immediately disappeared in a puff of smoke. He went straight for the Third's office. He knocked on the door.

"Enter."

"Lord Hokage, I wanted to speak to you about that ROOT member."

"What about him, Kakashi?"

"Why didn't you tell me it was Sensei's son?"

"I didn't see the need."

"What is Danzo planning? Putting that kid on my team could be serious trouble. If the Stone finds out…"

"Not even Danzo is aware of that fact, Kakashi. I doubt that even Danzo's resources could get to that information."

"Right."

"What test are you planning to give them tomorrow?"

"The bell test. I know it could be trouble with Naruto, but I don't know what else to do."

"Kakashi, one more thing. I wanted to let you know that your first mission will be a C rank."

Kakashi's visible eye widened. "That's strange…"

"I think we can afford it with Naruto on your team. He may be one of Danzo's best operatives, but I'm not sure D-rank would go over very well. He is still a kid after all."

"Very well."

With that, Kakashi left and the Third sighed.


	4. Chapter 3

**I don't own Naruto!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Alright, so everyone understand the rules?"

The three nodded as Kakashi eye smiled. "Now come at me with the intent to kill! Ready, set, go!"

Naruto sprang into action. He flipped over Kakashi and formed the hand sign for the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The Shadow Clone grabbed onto the original and threw him at Kakashi. Kakashi wasn't sure what the purpose of this was and easily dodged the punch aimed as his head. Suddenly, something grabbed his leg. He looked down to see a hand sticking up out of the ground.

'Impressive. He used the Shadow Clone jutsu to create a clone above and below ground. He faked an attack from above while striking from below.'

Kakashi glanced up just in time to notice the other clone coming at him with a katana. He slashed at Kakashi's face, only to have him block it with a knife. Kakashi then disappeared in a puff of smoke, angering Naruto and his clones. The clones disappeared, leaving Naruto alone on the battlefield. No doubt Sakura and Sasuke had run off to plan their strategies, and Kakashi was now going to test them.

Naruto made a clone and sent it after Sasuke, while he went after Sakura. Hopefully, if he stayed close enough to those two, Kakashi would show up, and then Naruto may manage to help the two get the bells. Naruto chuckled. This was a useful test for teamwork. Naruto wondered what this test would be like if he was actually a true genin.

Meanwhile, in his hiding spot deep in the forest, Sasuke was considering what he had seen of Kakashi and Naruto's fight before he went into hiding. This kid was pretty good. He had easily used his Shadow Clone Jutsu, and he had thought things through pretty well. If push came to shove, he could always team up with that kid and get the bells, but that was a last resort.

"Yo!"

Sasuke looked up from his crouching position to see Kakashi standing over him with an eye smile.

"So that kid lost that quickly, huh?"

"I'd worry more about myself if I were you," replied Kakashi, opening his orange book and reading.

Sasuke, angered by the man's disregard, kicked his left foot up to knock the book out of his hand, but Kakashi simply grabbed his leg and twisted, causing Sasuke to fall over. Kakashi glanced up just in time to see Naruto flying at him with his katana again. When Naruto got closer, Kakashi side-stepped and tripped the boy, causing the boy to roll away. Sasuke rolled his eyes, but his eyes widened when Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kakashi was already ducking as six shuriken sailed over his head. Sasuke tried to take advantage of the distraction, but Kakashi was ready, knocking Sasuke aside with a sweeping kick. Naruto now charged at Kakashi, punching a kicking at every opening. Kakashi was steadily forced back through the forest by the display of taijutsu prowess and had to break away from the blonde. He glanced to his left to see Sasuke forming hand signs for a Fire Style Jutsu.

"What!? Genin can't do Fire Style! It takes too much chakra!"

He glanced to his right to see Naruto forming similar hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted, blowing a giant fireball out of his mouth.

"Fire Style: Fox Fire Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, blowing a stream of fire from his mouth that took the form of three foxes that charged at Kakashi.

Kakashi dodged the assault, but felt something give behind his foot, followed by a snap. He looked down to see the remnants of a trip wire lying on the ground. As he saw this, he noticed a crashing from the trees. He turned just in time to see a log as big as he was swinging towards him.

"What in blazes!?" shouted Kakashi as he jumped out of the way, only to be surrounded by Shadow Clones. Kakashi glanced around to see Sakura standing by Sasuke, Naruto, and Naruto's clone. She smiled proudly. Apparently, Naruto had sent his clone to get Sakura and bring her to help Sasuke. Kakashi sighed and dropped the bells.

"Alright, you pass. All three of you. You understood the concept of teamwork right away, and executed a plan perfectly. Tomorrow morning we get our first mission. Meet at the Hokage's tower at 8 sharp. You're dismissed, except for you Naruto."

Sasuke and Sakura left, and Naruto watched Kakashi impassively as the silver-haired man pulled out his orange book. After waiting for five minutes, Kakashi finally spoke.

"We'll be going on a C-rank mission tomorrow."

Naruto's eyes widened by a fraction of a centimeter.

"Our intelligence tells us that we could meet up with a rogue chunin or two, nothing too serious. So how good are you? I know how ROOT works. I've had several 'friends' who were in ROOT, and I've heard that Danzo ranks his shinobi on a special scale. What rank are you?"

"You know of the scale?"

Kakashi nodded, still engrossed in his book. "ROOT ninja are ranked on a scale based on chess pieces. Pawn, Knight, Bishop, and Rook are the four ranks. Where do you fall?"

Naruto grinned. "Rook. I'm the third strongest in ROOT."

Kakashi wasn't surprised. "Right. You're free to go."

Naruto immediately left to report to Danzo about the test, and the information he had just given Kakashi.

_In ROOT HQ…_

"I'll tell you now, a 'rogue chunin or two' is not all you'll be dealing with. ROOT operatives say that Zabuza Momochi is there," Danzo told Naruto.

"He could be dangerous. Do you want me to eliminate him?"

"Kakashi will probably handle that. Your focus should be on the boy that has been said to be traveling with Zabuza. It is said that he has a very special kekkai-genkai."

"Should I kill him?"

"Try to enlist him first. If that does not work, kill him."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."


	5. Chapter 4

**I don't own Naruto!**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Team 7 left out the next morning, heading for the Wave Village with Tazuna, the bridge-builder, in tow. Tazuna had been very derogatory early on about the age of his protectors, but finally shut up when Naruto leveled a bit of killer intent on him. Unfortunately, he was immediately reprimanded for this by Kakashi.

They had only been walking for a few hours when Naruto noticed a puddle. He glanced at Kakashi, who nodded. It had not rained in the past few days, meaning that that puddle wasn't a coincidence.

They were proven right only seconds later as two rogue Mist ninja exploded from the puddle. They both had black hair and wore cloth masks over their faces. One wore a gray camouflage while the other wore darker colors. They also had a chain gauntlet that connected the two. Naruto noticed that their target was Kakashi. He decided that the jonin could handle himself and waited to respond at the same time as the other genin.

The two wrapped the chain around Kakashi, ripping him to pieces, or what they thought was him anyway. Naruto knew that it was just a log. Fools. They now came after the genin. Naruto jumped up and threw a kunai at the central link, breaking it in half.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you take the one in gray, and I'll take the other," Naruto ordered.

Sasuke nodded and formed hand signs. He shot a fireball at his opponent, causing him to jump back to avoid the flames. Sasuke then surprised the shinobi by jumping over his fireball and delivering a barrage of kunai at the ninja. The unexpectedness of it all caused the ninja to receive several painful hits. Kakashi immediately appeared behind the ninja and knocked the ninja out.

Naruto, meanwhile, had taken down his enemy with a speedy kick to the head. The rouge had never seen it coming. Kakashi walked over and threw the other rogue on top of him.

"I honestly expected more from the Demon Brothers. Don't you guys know that you're supposed to make sure you've killed an enemy before you move on to another target?"

"K-Kakashi-sensei, how are you alive?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Naruto answered for his sensei. "He used a substitution."

Sasuke only chuckled at Sakura's ignorance. Kakashi sighed.

"Good job, Naruto, Sasuke. You two managed to take on two chunin easily," Sasuke smirked at the praise. Naruto yawned. "Now, Mr. Tazuna, mind telling me why my genin were nearly killed?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said nervously.

"I think you do. These two are shinobi for hire, meaning that someone wants you dead."

Tazuna broke and then told the group of Gato and his thugs. This only confirmed what Naruto already knew. When Kakashi mentioned turning back to the village, Sakura readily agreed, but a look from Sasuke shut her up pretty quick. After a nod from both Sasuke and Naruto, Kakashi agreed to keep the mission. He internally sighed. Two genin, on their first mission, which just so happened to turn A-rank…what could possibly go wrong? Oddly, it was this moment that Kakashi was glad that Naruto was along. Even if he was a spy, he would prove useful later on.

The group left the chunin tied to a tree, even though Naruto had wanted to end them, scaring both Sakura and the bridge-builder. The three continued on the path to the Land of Waves. It wasn't long before they arrived in the Land of Waves. As they come to a point in the forest near a small pond, Naruto, his ROOT training kicking in, immediately threw a kunai at a nearby bush, scaring a small, white rabbit out of the bushes.

"You idiot!" Sakura yelled at the boy, but a small spike in killer intent silenced her. He looked to Kakashi, who nodded back.

"What is it?" asked Sasuke.

"This rabbit belongs to someone," Kakashi answered. "Because of the season, it should be brown instead of white. The fact that it's white means that it has been indoors."

"So should we find its owner?" Sakura asked.

"Duck now!" Naruto said, and everyone immediately hit the ground. Everyone but Naruto that is. A giant sword emerged from the trees, but Naruto simply reached up and caught it. He brought it back down, examined it, then smirked.

"Zabuza Momochi, you were foolish to do that!" Without warning, he broke the sword over his knee. Sasuke, Sakura, and even Kakashi all gasped at the blonde's action. The sword was obviously too thick to be broken so easily, but Naruto had broken it as if it were a twig.

A tall man with large muscles, pale skin, short, spiky black hair, brown eyes, and small eyebrows appeared from the forest around them. He had bandages wrapped around the lower half of his face. He wore his slashed forehead protector sideways on his head, and had a bare chest, except for the belt to which he must have attached his sword. He wore baggy pants with the striped pattern typical of the Mist Village and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers. He was glaring at Naruto with a passion.

"You will die for that, boy!"

"Yeah, I've heard that before. Call out your little friend, the one with the kekkai-genkai. I want to see how special he is."

If possible, Naruto's team was even more surprised. "N-Naruto, what are you talking about?"

"Sorry, Kakashi, but I already knew about Zabuza. Lord Danzo told me before we left. Zabuza has a friend who has a kekkai-genkai. He's supposed to be strong. Lord Danzo wants me to test him."

Kakashi's visible eye widened. "W-Who's this Danzo person?" Sakura asked. "For that matter, who's Naruto?"

"I'll explain later. For now, Sasuke and Sakura, stay with the bridge-builder while Naruto and I handle Zabuza…and his friend."

Zabuza, still glaring, decided to respond. "Very well, you'll get your fight. Haku, come out!"

A small boy wearing a mask slowly emerged from the forest. He had long black hair and wore a moss green, striped turtle-neck sweater and a split skirt in matching color that reached down to his knees. On the outside of that, he wore a green blue short kimono with white edges, and around his waist a green brown obi, in the same fabric as his sweater, with a fringed trail. He also wore light brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as his kimono and…nail polish!?

"Kakashi, is that boy…wearing nail polish."

"I-I think so…"

"This will be by far my strangest opponent yet."

"So I guess I'm taking Zabuza?"

"Unless you want me to take both. I don't mind."

"No, that's fine."

Sakura looked bewildered. "S-Sasuke, are you hearing this?"

Sasuke only nodded. He, too, had no idea what was going on.

Naruto instantly shot forward, his fist connecting with Haku's masked face and sending him flying back into the forest. Naruto quickly followed. Kakashi, in the meantime, pulled up his headband to reveal his Sharingan, causing Sasuke to nearly fall over in shock.

"W-What is going on here?"

Zabuza charged, forming hand signs. As he finished, a giant water dragon emerged from the pond and flew toward Kakashi, who simply dodged and copied the jutsu. Kakashi's own water dragon flew towards Zabuza, who dodged the attack with equal grace. Kakashi sighed. This might take a while.

Deeper in the forest, Naruto and Haku were now in a grueling taijutsu showdown. Haku, even using all of his speed, could barely keep up with the incredibly fast Naruto. Haku's mask had fallen off during his flight into the forest, revealing his dark brown eyes. Naruto had at first been shocked by the boy's girlish looks, but his ROOT training had prevented any of it from showing. Now he threw a feint punch to Haku's left, then followed it with a right hook. Haku bought it. The boy was no match for Naruto's prowess.

Haku created distance between himself and Naruto. This fight was not going how he wanted it to. He needed to finish Naruto off now so that he could return to assist Zabuza against Kakashi, the Copy Ninja. Deciding on the best course of action, he charged Naruto, hoping to get close enough to use the jutsu. Naruto, specializing in close combat, was glad when Haku charged, but he didn't let his guard down. No ninja would be dumb enough to charge at him like this right after he opened up a can of butt-whoop.

Haku punched with his left hand towards Naruto's center, but Naruto easily caught it with his right. Naruto drew his own left back to punch Haku in the face, but a flurry of movement caught his eye. He glanced down to see Haku finishing off a series of one-handed seals.

"What the cra—,"

"Secret Jutsu: One Thousand Needles of Death!"

The natural moisture in the air around Naruto began to condense and formed needles, which then froze. The needles moved toward Naruto at a blinding pace. Haku jumped over Naruto, using his escape route. The needles slammed into Naruto, causing him to fall forward to the ground. Haku approached the boy, senbon in hand.

"You were strong, but you were no match for me," he said.

"I hope that's not all you can do!" shouted Naruto with a voice that seemed to be all around.

Haku glanced down at the boy, only to see him disappear in a puff of smoke.

"A clone," he said nervously.

"That's right," Naruto replied, still bouncing his voice off the surrounding trees. "The reason I wanted to fight you is because I have a proposition for you."

"And what might that be?"

"I want you to join ROOT, a secret branch of the ANBU in the Leaf Village."

"I will never betray Zabuza. I am his tool. I live only to fight for him."

"Zabuza won't be alive much longer. Kakashi Hatake will make sure of that."

"Then I will die as well. I will never join those who kill Zabuza."

Naruto sighed. "No matter. Unfortunately, that does mean that I must kill you now."

Naruto emerged from the cover of the trees behind Haku. He ran forward, his katana drawn and raised. With one quick and clean swipe, he bisected Haku, whose remains fell to the ground. Naruto sighed and looked down at the remains, which suddenly turned into water.

"Water Clone…not good."

Haku stood directly behind Naruto, hand signs already being formed. Naruto felt the chakra being molded and turned to strike Haku, but Haku simply stepped into a giant pane of ice that had formed directly behind him. Naruto slashed at the ice with his sword, but his sword simply bounced back with a clang.

"What the..?" Naruto glanced around to see that he was surrounded by multiple panes of ice, all showing a reflection of Haku.

"This is my Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors. It is impossible for you survive this. Give up now, and I will let you live."

Naruto simply rose an eyebrow at this comment. "You really think I would give up so easily? You're crazy."

Naruto began forming hand signs of his own. Haku reacted by pelting him with senbon. The attack came from all sides, but not a single one touched Naruto due to a strange veil of wind that guarded him. He finished his hand signs and let out a large stream of fire.

"Fox-Fire Style: Blaze of Destruction!"

The flames flew toward the nearest mirror, melting it. Naruto continued melting every mirror in sight. While the sight of his mirrors melting was shocking, Haku was more shocked by the malevolence of the chakra being used against him. There was something evil about the chakra that the boy was using. Naruto focused on the mirror in which the real Haku was. The flames licked the mirror and began to melt it, but Haku didn't move. He couldn't move. The full force of the malicious chakra was being brought against him, and he was paralyzed from fear.

The mirror shattered, and Haku, covered in flames, was forcefully expelled, crashing into the nearest tree. The flames did not relent. They continued to burn the boy. Haku tried to cry out in pain, but his fear prevented him. When Naruto finally released the jutsu, all that was left of Haku were ashes and a pile of senbon. The boy was dead.

"I'm sorry it had to end that way, but you would be too dangerous to leave alive and not under our control…"

Naruto walked over to where the broken pieces of Haku's mask had fallen and picked them up. Danzo would need proof of his success. The mask would go nicely with the pieces of Zabuza's sword, which they would eventually reform with its special power to regenerate with the iron in its victims' blood.

Back with Kakashi, Zabuza was nowhere near as strong as Kakashi had anticipated. The lack of his sword left his usual attack pattern useless. Though he had his water jutsus and kunai, he still wasn't anywhere near Kakashi's level without his sword. Kakashi had matched Zabuza punch for punch and jutsu for jutsu, and he wasn't even breathing heavily.

"It ends here, Zabuza!" Kakashi said as he formed hand signs. "Lightning Blade!"

Kakashi's right hand began to glow and crackle with Kakashi's chakra. He charged for Zabuza with incredible speed. Zabuza fired a water dragon at Kakashi, but Kakashi jumped on top of it and ran along its back. He jumped off right before he thrust his jutsu into Zabuza's chest, killing him. Kakashi removed his hand, and Zabuza dropped to the ground.

"Not bad, old man," said Naruto, who emerged from the trees.

"So you were watching. Any trouble?"

"None whatsoever."

"Wait! Are you saying that Naruto beat that guy?" Sasuke asked.

"Yep. Pretty easily from the looks of it."

"He wasn't anywhere near my level."

"Your level? You're just a genin! What are you talking about?" Sakura shouted.

Naruto looked at Kakashi, who shrugged. "Fine. I don't guess it really matters. The truth is, I'm stronger than a genin…and a chunin…and most jonin."

"What!?" Sakura and Sasuke shouted in amazement. They glanced at each other, then burst out laughing.

"Yeah right!" Sakura shouted. "Like you could be better than Sasuke!"

"Believe what you want. It's of no concern to me."

"Kakashi," Sasuke said. "Is it true?"

Kakashi sighed. "Based on what I know, Naruto is around jonin level."

"Jonin? Then why is he a genin?" Sakura shouted. Naruto simply clenched his fist. If she didn't shut up, he may have to maim her.

"I was placed on this team because you are missing a member. The best way to handle that is to place a shinobi on your team to fill that gap. I'm the best choice. I'm young enough to be a genin, so that's what I am."

"Just how strong are you?" Sasuke asked, his mood darkening. This kid was considered a genin, yet he was calling himself a jonin. Sasuke wanted to know what he really could do.

"I'm at least jonin. I'm around Kakashi and Asuma's level."

The two genin simply fainted on the spot.

_Meanwhile, in the Leaf Village…_

"Everyone in position? Good! Go!" Sarutobi commanded as he and his ANBU busted through a door that lead into Danzo's ROOT base. The ANBU immediately broke out running in different directions. Four stayed with Sarutobi as he ran through the base to find Danzo. As they reached the final door of the corridor, two shinobi, a Yamanaka and an Aburame, attacked them. Two ANBU stayed behind to fight them while Sarutobi and the other two continued and broke down the door.

"It ends here, Danzo. For too long you have undermined my authority. Today that changes. You are under arrest. Please come quietly, old friend."

"Sarutobi, all I have done, I have done for the Leaf. If you cannot see that, then you cannot rightfully be called Hokage."

"Are you challenging me, Danzo?"

"I am! Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!" Danzo shouted, throwing a shuriken at Sarutobi. The shuriken's range was increased by the jutsu, and Sarutobi summoned a mud wall to block it. Even with the Hokage's jutsu, he still had to jump back to avoid decapitation.

The ANBU each moved to a different side of Danzo, preparing their own jutsu, but the Third Hokage waved them off. Danzo was his problem.

"Wind Style: Slash!"

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon!"

Sarutobi exhaled a massive dragon of fire at the coming wind slash. The dragon consumed the wind based attack and exploded. Danzo was thrown into the wall from the force of the explosion, and felt something snap. He knew it was his neck.

"Danzo, I'm sorry. You chose this long ago. The shinobi clans finally agreed when I explained the situation of Naruto Uzumaki. Minato did many things for them. They realize the truth, Danzo. Though the civilians will despise us, it was necessary. Naruto, and all of ROOT, had to be stopped."

"W-What will happen to them? Will you slaughter them, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked, speaking of his ROOT operatives.

"No, they will be admitted to the Leaf Village's ninja force. They will be released of your seals and be allowed to join the Leaf as genin until they have proven themselves."

"There will…be no need…for distrust…Sarutobi…Even now…my men are surrendering…They will not defy orders from the…Hokage himself…"

Hiruzen nodded, feeling sadness as he realized that Danzo was dying.

"Hiruzen…I…I ask one last thing…Protect Naruto Uzumaki…That boy…is something else…I never believed it possible…but he was able to resist…conditioning…He has a personality…unlike the others…Also…he has a power…a power to…change others…He changed…me…He's special, Hiruzen…don't let him get away…He…He deserves to be the…"

Hiruzen waited, knowing what Danzo would say, but it was left unsaid. The warhawk had passed. Hiruzen stared at the body, realizing the political minefield he now faced. In the words of the Nara, this would be quite troublesome…


	6. Chapter 5

**I hope you enjoy the latest installment of Naruto: The Broken Ninja!**

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter. You know who you are. I was asked an interesting question after the last chapter. Did Danzo love Naruto? Well, yes and no, we'll see as the story goes on exactly how much Naruto changed Danzo. Naruto has a special power. Look what happened to Nagato in the manga. Danzo began to care for Naruto, in a since, but I don't know if Danzo would ever have considered or admitted love.**

**Soon to come, there will be a time skip. It will be approximately seven years. I will summarize the time skip. It will be a short chapter that will cover the major information that will be needed, but skip over a lot of juicy details that I will choose to bring back later, such as who Naruto meets and how strong he becomes. Hope you like this chapter. Read and Review!**

**I don't own Naruto! Fortunately for the world.**

**Chapter 5**

The rest of Team 7's mission was mostly peaceful, save for one event. Gato, the man who had hired Zabuza and Haku to kill the bridge-builder, brought all of his civilian thugs to kill everyone on the bridge. Naruto, annoyed at the occurrence, simply destroyed the group by summoning around fifty clones. Sasuke and Sakura were surprised by Naruto's brutality as the original plunged his blade into Gato's chest.

"What?" he said, meeting their stares. "A jerk like that deserved it." He kicked Gato off his blade and cleaned his sword.

Even Kakashi left him alone with that one. The team headed home a week later. They arrived at the Leaf Village, they immediately reported to the Hokage who asked to see Kakashi and Naruto alone after the debriefing.

"What's up, old man?"

Sarutobi hesitated, not sure how to proceed with the news. "Naruto…I'm not sure how to tell you this, but ROOT is no more."

"W-What?" Naruto asked, shock evident on his features.

"ROOT has been demolished, thanks to my efforts and those of my ANBU," the Hokage said slowly. Kakashi's eye turned towards Naruto to gauge his reaction. He was shaking slightly.

"W-What happened to Lord Danzo?"

"He was killed in the raid. He refused to come quietly."

Naruto released a massive amount of killer intent toward the Hokage, but he quickly reined in his temper. Speaking calmly, but coldly.

"How could you do that? He was your teammate!"

"I understand how you feel, Naruto, but Danzo was a threat."

"He protected this village!"

"Without my approval!"

"So? He saved this village more times than I can count!"

"However, I couldn't trust him, Naruto. Trust is integral in my position."

Naruto only glared at the old man.

"As a result of these circumstances, you will become a standard genin, eligible to compete in the coming chunin exams. Understood?"

Naruto continued to glare.

"_Understood?_"

"Yes, sir," Naruto muttered, his glare softening.

"Kakashi, focus on training the other two. Naruto here will make chunin no matter what."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

"Old man?" said Naruto weakly.

"Yes?"

"What will happen to my brothers? I know that I'll be okay, but the others, they don't understand the real world. They were trained differently. W-what are you going to do with them?"

"They will be given genin rank like you, though I have to wait before we put them on teams."

"Alright, and thank you, Lord Hokage."

Naruto left seemingly defeated. Kakashi glanced at the Hokage, who nodded.

Naruto went straight to the training field he wanted to be alone. He didn't get his wish, however, as Kakashi soon arrived.

"You alright, Naruto?"

"I'm not in the mood, Kakashi."

"I was just going to see if you wanted to talk about it."

"No thanks."

"How about a spar then? You said that you were close to my level. Why don't we test that?"

Naruto looked up at Kakashi. Kakashi could see that he was attempting to rein in his emotions, but was failing. Naruto sighed and then nodded. Kakashi was glad. Maybe this spar would be healthy for Naruto.

The two decided on a no-rules brawl. Naruto charged forward, feigning a punch with his left hand while bringing his right leg up for a kick. Kakashi saw this and knocked Naruto's feint away, causing Naruto to lose balance. Kakashi then swept Naruto's left leg out from under him, causing Naruto to fall. Naruto quickly used his left hand to catch himself and rolled away before Kakashi could strike with the axe kick that he had prepared. Naruto now formed hand signs, inhaled deeply, and exhaled a giant bullet of air. Kakashi charged his hand with lightning chakra and batted the jutsu away. He increased the chakra in his right hand and produced the Lightning Blade. He charged at Naruto with his signature jutsu.

Naruto stepped to the left, dodging the attack. As the jutsu missed, Naruto reached out and grabbed Kakashi's hand, believing he had the advantage. He did not see Kakashi smirk as he charged his hand with more lightning chakra. Naruto jumped away after receiving a zap. He ran a mental test to make sure everything was working properly and found that he couldn't move his left arm, the one he had grabbed Kakashi with.

Kakashi now came at Naruto again, this time with a kunai. Naruto focused on dodging the swipes of the weapon. Suddenly, to Naruto's surprise, Kakashi jumped up. Naruto realized that it had been a trap. He turned to his right to see a massive water dragon speeding toward him. He cartwheeled to the right to avoid the attack, but was suddenly met by a rock wall. Naruto got up and was about to move away when he noticed a kunai at his throat.

"So what now?" asked Kakashi. "Do we pull our trump cards?"

"No. Thanks for the fight, Kakashi," said Naruto, still depressed. He left Kakashi standing there. Kakashi sighed and left to read his book.

Time passed, and Naruto and his team performed a large number of C-rank missions. The Hokage had decided to continue C-rank missions to keep Naruto from going insane, and both the Hokage and Kakashi noticed that Sasuke and Sakura were growing from the experience. Seeing Naruto in action seemed to have spurred them to greater heights.

Sasuke had worked to increase his taijutsu and ninjutsu abilities as much as possible. Naruto was actually beginning to enjoy their spars because of Sasuke's increased drive. Naruto was still clearly his superior in these areas, but Sasuke was able to think on his feet, reacting quickly. This even impressed Kakashi. Sasuke didn't have his Sharingan yet, but he was still able to react and think quickly.

Sakura was also improving. Though her taijutsu and ninjutsu were not great, she had asked Kurenai to help with genjutsu. Her genjutsu ability was now great enough to fool Sasuke, and Naruto and Kakashi encouraged her.

Naruto, however, was a different story compared to the other two. He no longer appeared to want to work. He sparred because he enjoyed fighting, but he appeared to have lost his will to go on with his career. Sarutobi and Kakashi were at their wits end. Naruto had kept to himself, coming out of his small apartment only for food, training, and missions. He appeared to have shut down.

Naruto's depression culminated in the day he walked into the Hokage's office uninvited, throwing his headband down on the desk.

"I'm done."

"What do you mean, Naruto?"

"I don't want to be a ninja anymore."

"Naruto, tell me what's going on."

"Danzo was there for me, old man. I had a terrible childhood. I was regularly beaten by the villagers, and what did you do about it? Nothing! Danzo took me in and trained me to fend for myself. He taught me to defend myself. He helped me make sure that the villagers couldn't hurt me anymore! Now that he's gone, I just can't do it! I lived for ROOT! I lived for Danzo! I only wanted to protect this village because it was Danzo's home, but with him gone, it's not worth it anymore. This village has sunk to a new low!"

Naruto didn't even wait for a reply. He simply stormed out of the office.


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone! Here's chapter 6. Hope you like. Since this chapter is so short, there will be a double update tonight. This chapter is the long awaited time skip chapter. This chapter will start at the end of the last chapter and skip up to the main timeline of the story, a total of about seven years. Enjoy!**

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Chapter 6**

Sarutobi had not been able to believe what had happened. Naruto had quit being a ninja and stormed out of the office. He glanced to the picture of Minato on the wall and sighed. What would happen now?

Naruto wasn't seen in the village after that. Kakashi worried about the boy, and went to his apartment to find it abandoned. Naruto's stuff had all disappeared. He ran to the Hokage immediately, and ANBU were sent to find the boy. They didn't. The Inuzuka were mobilized to track Naruto down, but his trail had been covered so that even they couldn't find it.

The council couldn't believe it either; their luck that is. They declared Naruto an S-class missing-nin and demanded him to be returned to the village dead or alive, not that anyone would ever find Naruto. Most of the citizens were happy for the "demon child" to be gone.

Naruto himself felt broken. There was nothing left to tether him to Leaf, so he had moved on. He made a decision that day. He decided to live only for himself. He had been tortured as a child. Then Danzo found him and life was bearable. He had lived for Danzo and for the Leaf, but now that was over. He decided that living for reasons beyond ones' self was useless. He decided that he would live only for his own happiness. He made a decision that day to destroy anyone who would threaten his happiness. He decided that he would fight only for himself, and no one else. He determined to become stronger than all others. He had learned that fighting for others, while valiant, was not worth the pain brought from losing those others.

When he thought about his departure, he found it odd that the person that he would miss the most was Kakashi. He hadn't had any real talks with the man, but his presence on missions had been something that Naruto enjoyed. Naruto felt closest to Kakashi out of everyone. He had never really been part of a team in the Leaf, but when he worked with Kakashi, he could sense a mutual respect between the two. Kakashi knew he was good, and he knew Kakashi was good. They didn't fight, like Sakura and Sasuke always did whenever Kakashi was late. Kakashi didn't question his ideas. Kakashi listened and then responded. It was more than Naruto had received from anyone but Danzo. That spar with Kakashi had also been just what he needed at the moment.

Life went on. The chunin exams came three months later. Sasuke, Neji, Lee, Sakura, Shino, and Shikamaru were all promoted. For some strange reason, the Sand Village had pulled out at the last minute. Rumors were circulating that their Kazekage had been killed. A month after, word was received that Orochimaru was the one who had killed the Kazekage, and was then killed himself by a ninja who called himself Fox.

Sarutobi and Kakashi immediately recognized the name, but kept the truth from the council in order to keep Naruto alive. As long as he was alive, there was hope that he would return to the Leaf.

Jiraiya returned to the village, bringing word of Akatsuki, and was furious when he learned of Naruto's defection. He asked to see Kakashi, and the two immediately left to find Naruto themselves. Sarutobi was reluctant to let Kakashi go, but really had no way to argue Jiraiya's point. With Naruto no longer in the village and Orochimaru dead, there weren't many threats left who were dumb enough to attack.

Kakashi and Jiraiya were gone for a year. Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji became jonin during that time, while Sakura began studying under local medics. The rest of the Leaf 11 were promoted to chunin. At the end of that year, Jiraiya and Kakashi returned, bringing one Tsunade of the Sannin and her apprentice with them.

The four immediately met with Sarutobi to discuss their trip. During the year, Kakashi and Jiraiya had met and fought with Akatsuki members who were searching for the Nine-Tails. They were fighting two-on-two against Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sand. They had won, but only because Fox had interfered. Fox had never shown his face, but Kakashi believed that he was Naruto. Fox, who was wearing ANBU armor and a light orange ANBU mask, had disappeared almost as soon as he appeared. He had appeared only to kill Sasori before Sasori could kill Kakashi. They soon finished off Deidara. Their injuries were so extensive from the fight that they were forced to find help immediately, so they couldn't go after Naruto. They managed to find Tsunade in the nearest town. Their meeting had simply been by chance, as Tsunade had not intended to come there, but had followed a "blonde punk" who took her necklace. Apparently, he had always stayed just out of reach of the older blonde, leading her to the city gate before dropping her necklace and disappearing.

Sarutobi chuckled. Naruto had simply saved their lives and then led Tsunade to them to heal them. Through all of this, he had managed to avoid capture. He had defeated Orochimaru, Sasori, and who knows who else. The boy was strong.

Six more years passed, and no one saw or heard from Naruto. Most of the Leaf forgot about him. Jiraiya kept tabs on Akatsuki during that time, learning that all but two had died by the hands of the same three shinobi, though he had no word on who these three were. The two remaining were Itachi Uchiha and the orange spiral-mask-wearing leader, Tobi. Itachi fell in the fourth year to Sasuke, and no one ever heard anything about Tobi. Sarutobi had passed, and Tsunade had taken his place as the Fifth Hokage.

No one noticed the figure on the roof of a nearby building during the funeral of the Third Hokage. The figure wore a light orange mask. He watched the ceremony before disappearing. During his time away, Naruto had trained and become much stronger than any other ninja. He had surpassed all of Akatsuki and had sought his own form of peace. He found it. He found a girl, and began to fight for her happiness as well. He became a bounty hunter at the age of fifteen, and was soon one of the best bounty hunters in the world. It did help that he could finally cash in on his defeat of Akatsuki. At the age of eighteen, Naruto retired from being a shinobi and left to live with his new wife. He had no intention of ever being a ninja again.

In the seventh year since Naruto had left, the Stone Village was preparing to declare war on the Leaf. The Mist joined them, as did many of the smaller villages. The Cloud and Sand would not hear their pleas for help. It seemed as if the Leaf would be destroyed, but Tsunade had a plan. She had heard that there was one who could help them, but he would have to be found. He was the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox. She had been briefed about Naruto, and knew that he was strong. She also had heard rumors that he was on good terms with the Raikage and Kazekage. Maybe if he was brought back to the village, she would have a better chance of eliciting their help. She removed the missing-nin status on Naruto and sent Kakashi, Sasuke, Shino, and Kiba to find him. As the group left her office, she offered up a silent prayer that they would succeed. If they didn't, all was lost.


	8. Chapter 7

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Chapter 7**

Naruto awoke to the sun pouring through the windows of his small home in the Land of Rivers, a small land east of the Land of Fire. His home was a small, white house that had a river about thirty yards from the back door. It was surrounded by a forest, ensuring a quiet and peaceful home. He attempted to stretch his arms, but his left was immobilized by a weight. He turned to see that his wife, Alexis, sleeping peacefully while holding tightly to his arm. He glanced up at the calendar to see the date. It had been seven years today since he had left the Leaf. He wondered how things were going there. He had heard rumors that Mist, Stone, and several smaller villages were going to attack the Leaf. Sand and Cloud wouldn't hear them out of course, since he was a personal friend of both the Kazekage and the Raikage.

Naruto carefully used a Substitution Jutsu to replace his arm with a pillow so he could get up. He smiled down at his wife. She had light blonde hair like his. She was dressed in a white tank top and white pants with pink foxes on them. Her eyes slowly opened, revealing the beautiful green eyes that Naruto loved. He could get lost in those eyes. She yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" Naruto said, leaning down for a kiss.

She kissed him back. "Morning!"

"So what do you want to do today?"

"Gardening?"

Naruto sighed. "If that's what you want."

"Well it is. Now what's for breakfast, sweety?"

"Ramen?"

"Okay, if that's what you want."

Naruto changed into his black sweats and walked downstairs. Alexis walked over and started pulling down the bowls and utensils for Naruto, who turned on the stove. Minutes later, both Naruto and Alexis had large bowls of ramen in front of them. Naruto slurped his down lightning-fast and ran out the backdoor to start his training. He started with a three mile run, which was the distance from his house to the nearest town.

Naruto finished his run in about ten minutes, and was about to start push-ups, when he noticed a presence was watching him from the trees. He focused his mind and allowed himself to feel his surroundings. There were three in the trees, and one on the other side of the house. He tensed. They better not touch Alexis, or they would come face-to-face with a Nine-Tailed Fox.

The one on the other side of the house moved, and Naruto was away in an instant. He jumped on top of the house and down again, landing behind the man. He grabbed him by the hair and placed a kunai to his throat.

"Come out now! All of you!" he said menacingly.

Three others jumped down in front of the house, facing Naruto. The one on the right was wearing a standard jonin outfit. He had a giant dog sitting next to him. In the middle of the three was a man wearing sunglasses and a pale blue trench coat. Finally, the one on the left wore standard jonin clothes and a mask over most of his face. He had spiky silver hair.

"Kakashi!?"

Naruto glanced down and saw that he was holding Sasuke by the hair. Sasuke was glaring at him. He was wearing a black shirt with the Uchiha crest and black shorts. He let go of Sasuke and pushed him towards the others. Sasuke spun and sized Naruto up. He had grown to a few inches over six feet. He looked like he had been training hard for years, and he was ripped. The muscles on his arms were well-defined and his hands were clenched into fists. His face had not changed much, except for that his jaw line was now more defined and his blue eyes had a hardened look to them. He also noticed that Naruto's whiskers were now fainter.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto, the Leaf wishes to see you return. We want you to come back," said Kakashi.

"Not happening."

"Why not? Is the Leaf that bad?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, the Leaf killed the closest thing I had to family. There's no way that I'll willingly go back there."

"Naruto, quit being stubborn and come back," said Sasuke.

Naruto glared at him. "I've already said no."

"Naruto, will you at least hear what we have to say?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto was about to reply when the door to his house opened.

"Naruto, honey, what's going on?" asked Alexis.

Everyone turned to see who had spoken. Sasuke just shrugged. Kiba's eyes were about to bust out of his head. Shino remained expressionless. Kakashi eye smiled.

"It's nothing, dear, go back inside."

Alexis just shrugged and went back inside. Kiba was still staring at the door. Sasuke smirked. "Kiba, if you want to keep all of your parts intact, I suggest that you stop staring at Naruto's wife like that."

Kiba turned around immediately, pale.

"Why do you want my help, Kakashi? Why has the village waited until now? Does it have anything to do with the coming war?"

"Well, yes. The Leaf has no allies for this war. We won't be able to stand alone. We need help."

"Why not go to the Cloud or Sand?" Naruto asked, already knowing the answer.

"They won't listen to us."

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you either. I gave up being a ninja. I became strong enough to take care of myself, and now I'm done. My reason is gone. I don't want to be a ninja anymore."

"The Fifth Hokage has agreed that we will pay for your services, if you'll help."

Naruto thought about that. He and Alexis could always use more money. "Alright, but it'll cost a lot. 40 million."

Kiba choked. "What!"

"Kiba, quiet," said Kakashi.

"But that's insane! Nobody would pay that much!"

"We will, or we won't get any help. Naruto, you have a deal."

Naruto grimaced. He never expected them to actually take the deal. "Fine. Go back to the town and give me three days to prepare."

Kakashi nodded and his team left. Naruto went back inside to tell Alexis about what had happened. He walked in the front door and was tackled by his wife in a hug.

"What was that all about?" she asked. "Were they ninja? Are you okay?"

Naruto held her and answered calmly. "I'm fine, and yes, they were ninja. As for what they wanted, they hired my services."

"So you're going to go with them? And be a ninja again?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.

"Don't worry, Alexis. I'll finish this as fast as I can. They just want me to fight in a war for them."

That was the wrong choice of words as Alexis instantly began to tear up. "Why do you have to this? Why can't you just stop, like you told me you would?"

"I'm being paid, Alexis, and if I do this, I'll have 40 million. We can do whatever you want, and I'll never have to be a ninja again. I'm all yours."

Alexis looked up at him and sniffled. Naruto leaned down, seeing that he was a full foot taller than her at 6'4, and began to kiss away her tears.

"I love you, and I'll be fine. I'm not going to die. I promise."

She looked up at him, surprised. "You never make promises."

"I know, but that's because I have to keep them. This one I intend to keep. Now, I'm yours today and tomorrow, but then, we've got to pack."

Alexis grinned. She grabbed Naruto by the shirt and dragged him toward the bedroom.

_Meanwhile…_

"Man, did you see Naruto's wife? She was hot!" Kiba said.

"Kiba, do you have a death wish?" Sasuke asked.

"I can't help it, man. I've never seen someone so beautiful. She puts all of the girls in the Leaf to shame. Even Hinata and Sakura."

"Be that as it may," Kakashi interrupted, "if he's anything like the Naruto that I remember, he won't hesitate to start cutting things off if he hears you say that."

"So why did we agree to pay him 40 million, anyway?"

"We didn't have a choice. If you wanted to try to fight him, be my guest, but I wasn't getting involved in that," replied Kakashi. "Naruto managed to easily defeat someone that was about to kill me, so I know that he's stronger than me."

"Kiba, Naruto was on par with Kakashi when I was a genin. He's probably even better now," said Sasuke.

The group walked into the hotel and got their rooms. "Well, let's take a break."


	9. Chapter 8

**I don't own Naruto! What else is new?**

**Okay, so here's chapter 8! Sorry it took a little longer. I had a writer's block. I finally ended up forcing myself to write and today I got a burst of inspiration! Who knows, I may be through chapter ten by Christmas. Merry Christmas to all. Enjoy Naruto: The Broken Ninja, and don't forget to read and review!**

**Chapter 8**

Naruto and the team left after three days. Naruto carried Alexis on his back so that they could keep up with the other ninja. He stayed ahead with Kakashi during the length of the trip. After a few hours of traveling, once Alexis had fallen asleep on Naruto's back, Kakashi motioned for Naruto to run side-by-side with him. Naruto ran up beside him, and the two broke away from the rest of the group, but not too much.

"Naruto, I have to ask, what was all of that about being done with being a ninja?"

"Kakashi, you wouldn't understand. I lost the one person who was closest to me."

Kakashi chuckled sadly. "I do understand that loss."

Naruto remained silent for a moment before continuing. "It was terrible. I couldn't bear to lose the man who had taught me everything. I wasn't like other ROOT ninja. The emotional conditioning didn't work on me so well. After the third try, Danzo just ordered them to stop trying. I developed a strange kind of bond with Danzo after that point. He supervised my training personally. He always made sure that I was looked after. He was…like a father to me. When I came back to the village to find out that he had been killed, I just had to run away from it all. I was going to be alone again. I never wanted to feel that again, but here it was. I tried to go on, thinking it was what he would have wanted, but I just couldn't do it. The Leaf had not changed since I was a little boy. It only got worse. I was the one that changed. Tell me, Kakashi, how do you openly protect a place that hates you? I'm hated in the Leaf, and I always was. Danzo was the first to actually care for me, but then the Leaf took him away from me. So tell me Kakashi, if you had lived that kind of life, what would you do?

"After I left the village, I became stronger. I gathered a team of ninja and exterminated Akatsuki before they could threaten my way of life. Kakashi, I only got as strong as I did to make sure that I wouldn't have to deal with such problems ever again. However, even though I'm this strong, I'm not like you or the others. Now that Akatsuki are gone, I have no reason to fight. I agreed to do this, not because of anything the Leaf has done for me, but simply for the memory Danzo. I will protect the Leaf during this war to honor his memory. After this, I plan to retire, again, and never be a ninja again. That part of my life is over."

"One last thing, Naruto. Why did you save me that day? If you dislike the Leaf as much as you say, why save one of its ninja?"

Naruto hesitated. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "I was moving before I understood what I was doing. I guess I just couldn't watch someone die so easily."

Kakashi knew that there was more to it than that, but he let it go. He obviously wasn't going to get anything out of him.

The group arrived in the Leaf only a couple of days later. Naruto and Alexis were led to the Hokage's office, where Naruto basically had the same conversation with Tsunade that he'd had with Kakashi.

"So, you are Naruto Uzumaki. I've heard a lot about you," said the blonde Hokage.

"I am," Naruto replied.

"And are you also Fox, the mercenary responsible for the death of Orochimaru?"

"And Kisame Hoshigake, Nagato, or Pain, as he liked to call himself, Konan, and Sasori of the Red Sand, among others."

"I understand that you are charging us 40 million for your services. You better be worth it."

"I've never been beaten in all out combat, Lady Hokage."

"That could mean that you just haven't faced the right opponent," the Hokage replied.

"The same could be said for any ninja, ma'am. Even you," he told her.

Tsunade almost smiled. She liked this kid, but she couldn't afford to show it. "I've decided that you will be part of a new Team Kakashi. This squad will consist of you and two other jonin with Kakashi in charge. Do you have any problems with this?"

"Nope. Not as long as you're paying."

"The other members of the team will be Sasuke Uchiha and Shikamaru Nara."

"Very well."

"It was good to meet the two of you."

"You as well, Lady Hokage."

Naruto and Alexis left and were taken to their hotel. Naruto and Alexis later left for dinner. Naruto had told Alexis that he wanted to go to Ichiraku for ramen.

The two ordered miso ramen and waited for the dishes to be made. While they waited, Sasuke walked up and Naruto left the booth to talk with him for a moment. As the two men talked, a petite girl with pink hair entered Ichiraku and ordered her own meal. She started up a conversation with Alexis.

"You must be new here," she said. "My name's Sakura."

"My name is Alexis. So you're Sakura? You were the girl on my Naruto's team, right?"

'My Naruto?' thought Sakura, but she shook her head and continued the conversation. "Naruto? As in Naruto Uzumaki?"

Alexis nodded. She pointed Naruto out to Sakura, who gasped at the sight of her former teammate.

"Yes, I was part of his team, for a little while. We went on a few missions together before he left. How do you know Naruto?"

Alexis showed Sakura her left hand, which had a small silver band on it. "He's my husband."

"Husband? So Naruto got married, huh? I guess that's what happened to him. How is he?"

"He seems to be much better than he was when he left here."

"What do you mean?"

"I met Naruto only a few months after he left this village. He saved me from a few highwaymen…"

_Flashback…_

_It was around midnight in the eastern part of the Land of Fire. A twelve-year-old Alexis was currently at the mercy of a group of seven highwaymen who had found her in the forest. The leader of the group wore a mask and had shoulder-length purple hair. He grabbed Alexis by the throat and lifted her off the ground._

"_You're going to be quite the entertainment tonight, my dear. First, we're going to have to get rid of these rags."_

_The man grabbed the thin shirt she was wearing and ripped it off. Next, he proceeded to do the same to her pants and her underwear. Several of the group whistled and chuckled._

"_Put her down," said a voice, calm and quiet, yet firm._

"_Who said that?" asked the leader, turning his attention from the girl. Before any of the group could react, two of the highwaymen lay dead. The leader whirled around, trying to see what had happened, but he still held onto Alexis._

"_I said put her down."_

"_Who are you?" yelled the leader. He watched as a blur once again emerged from the trees, killing the rest of his men._

"_This is your last chance."_

_The man, angry, pulled a knife from his pocket and prepared to slit the girl's throat. His hand, however, was chopped off before the knife could get even a foot from the girl. He dropped the girl and clutched at the stub where his hand had once been._

"_Why you little-," he got no farther as a sword found his neck, slicing it open. He crumpled to the ground, dead._

"_Are you okay?" the figure asked Alexis, who was using her hands to cover herself. The figure, who was wearing a black cloak, approached her. She tried to back away, scared of this newcomer. Sensing her discomfort, the figure removed the cloak and tossed it to her. She wrapped the garment around her before looking back at the figure. _

_In the light of the full moon, she could see him plainly. He was wearing a greyish armor, over a black muscle shirt and black pants. His clothes, however, were not what caught her eye. What caught her attention was his face. He was young, her age. He had whisker marks on his cheeks and sapphire-like eyes. He also had blonde hair, like her own. She looked into his eyes, and saw pain and grief like she had never known. Something was wrong. He smiled at her, a gesture of kindness and compassion, but the smile never made it to his eyes. There was just too much pain._

"_My name is Naruto Uzumaki," he said. "What's yours?"_

_Even when he spoke, she could feel his pain. What could have happened to break him so badly?_

_End Flashback…_

"Wow, so you two met with him saving your life. That's so romantic."

"Yeah. He was a complete gentleman, too. At first, I thought he was going to be like the other men and take advantage of me, but he never did."

Sakura grimaced. "Let me tell you, most guys would have taken advantage. Guys can be such pigs."

"I know. Naruto's a great guy. I doubt that there's anyone out there who would respect me as much as he did. He didn't ever take advantage of me, and believe me, he had quite a few opportunities. He wouldn't even touch me in an intimate way until we were married."

"Spilling our life story, dear?"

The girls turned to see Naruto slurping at a bowl of ramen that had just been placed in front of him. Alexis smiled back at him.

"Maybe."

"Sorry, Sakura. She tends to do that."

Naruto finished his ramen quickly and they bid farewell to Sakura. They returned to their hotel room and discussed Naruto's past in this village.

_Meanwhile…_

"He certainly appears strong, but I can't sense the Nine-Tails in him."

"Neither could I, Lady Hokage."

"Kakashi, do you think he released it?"

"Normally, I'd say no, but it is Naruto."

"This could be bad. If he still doesn't have the Nine-Tails, things could go downhill very quickly."

"Lady Tsunade, why is the Nine-Tails so important? We know Naruto is strong. Why does he need the Nine-Tails?"

"Kakashi, what I'm about to show you is highly classified."

She handed Kakashi a letter. He took it and began to read.

_Lady Hokage,_

_ We of the Stone-Mist Alliance know that you are entirely overwhelmed. You are outnumbered, outclassed, and overpowered. We have three jinchuriki, the Four-Tails, Five-Tails, and Seven-Tails. You have lost your jinchuriki. Because of the fact that you are vastly outmatched, we have decided to give you an opportunity. If you surrender within the next month, you and your people will live. If not, you will die. If you surrender, you will become our slaves and have some rights. Your bloodlines will continue as Stone and Mist bloodlines. Do not think us weak. If you do not surrender, you will die. We hope to hear of your surrender soon._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Onoki, the Tsuchikage_

Kakashi handed the letter back to the Hokage, his visible skin pale. "I understand. You think that he will be overwhelmed by the jinchuriki."

Tsunade nodded. "Kakashi, I know what I've read about Naruto and what you and the Third told me, but what was Naruto really like before?"

"He was…calm. He knew how good he was. He knew where he stood. He even said that there were only two jonin in the Leaf that could beat him at the time, myself and maybe Asuma. He was a ROOT operative, following orders. Behind all of this, he was like a kid, though. It was weird. You know that Danzo had to use emotional conditioning, but it never stuck. Naruto was a kid one moment, and a hardened killer the next."

"So underneath the exterior he was a kid…?"

"It seemed that way."

"I guess I finally understand him now."

"Ma'am?"

"He may have been as strong as you, Kakashi, but behind that experienced killer, he was just a kid yearning for acceptance. Danzo was the only one to accept him, but Danzo was taken away from him by Sarutobi-sensei. He lost the only one to ever truly accept him."

Kakashi nodded in understanding.

Tsunade's eyebrow rose, and she smiled. "It also explains why he saved you, Kakashi."

"It…does?" Kakashi said, confused.

"Of course. You acknowledged him. I read your classified report for the mission to Wave. You know, the one you wrote specifically for Sarutobi separate from the one for the council. You agreed with his plan to fight Haku. You even allowed it. His inner child saw that as some form of acceptance. He saw that you trusted his fighting ability enough to let him fight. You acknowledged his skill. Most jonin would've forbidden it. Not to mention that spar you had with him. That meant the world to him. He sees you as someone that respects him. Kakashi…you could be the one to convince him to return to the Leaf. You were Minato's student. In a way, you two are brothers. Use that bond, Kakashi. Your closest friend is Guy, which is anything but healthy. Naruto could become that brother you never had. Think about it."

Kakashi nodded and left. He had a lot to think about.


	10. Chapter 9

**I don't own Naruto! Nothing has changed in the past five minutes.**

**Here's the second chapter for tonight. For you action fans, there's not a lot in this chapter. This is mostly getting you ready for future chapters. There's some fun stuff like (SPOILER ALERT!) secrets and conversations with dead people, but other than that, not really a fighting chapter. Don't worry though, I have a lot of those planned in the future. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 9**

Naruto awoke the next day to a knock on the door. He walked to the door and opened it to find a single ANBU standing before him.

"Lady Hokage requests your presence."

"I'll be there as soon as I get dressed."

The ANBU nodded and left. Naruto closed the door and put on basic ninja gear. He also followed this with ANBU style armor. He kissed Alexis bye and left to meet the Hokage. He noticed that he was still met by glares from the people of the Leaf. He shrugged. You can't please everyone.

Halfway to the Hokage's office, Kakashi met him. The masked ninja was wearing his usual outfit. He appeared to have something on his mind.

"What is it, Kakashi?"

"Oh, I was just thinking. Naruto, did you ever learn who your parents were?"

Naruto glanced at Kakashi, suddenly interested in this conversation. "No, I didn't."

"I see," was all Kakashi said.

"What do you know?" Naruto growled.

Kakashi sighed. "Alright, I'll make a deal with you. We have a mission coming up. While we are gone, I'll tell you, if we can have another spar."

Naruto glared at the jonin. "Why should I wait?" he snapped. "They're my parents!"

Kakashi held his hands up, trying to calm Naruto's raging temper. "I can't tell you in the village," he whispered. "Unless I want to die."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto barked.

"The Third made it a law. No one was to tell you the truth, about the Nine-Tails or your heritage. Though I have to admit, only a few of us knew of your father."

"A few?"

"Myself, the Third, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. That was basically it."

Naruto glared at Kakashi once more. "Fine, I'll wait until the mission."

Kakashi watched Naruto. His attitude changed after that. He seemed more distrustful. Kakashi had hoped that this would get Naruto to open up or excite him, but it had just made it angrier. They arrived in Tsunade's office moments later. The blonde saw them and motioned for them to sit. She went back to her paperwork.

"Kakashi, I'm surprised you're on time."

"I'm always where I need to be when I need to be there. Just so happens that this time I needed to be on time. Didn't want a threat like that last one, either."

Naruto chuckled at his former captain's behavior, then paused to reflect on the last comment. Kakashi waved it off. Naruto smirked.

"The reason I wanted to see you two is that I have a mission for you. The mission is a coordinated assault. I want you to destroy a Stone Village mining facility."

Kakashi's visible eye widened. "You want us to make the first move?"

"Yes. I don't want the Stone to think that we're weak. They are calling for our surrender. We're going to coordinate a strike that will show them that we have no intention of surrender."

Tsunade handed Kakashi a folder. Naruto chuckled. "You guys aren't exactly strong."

Tsunade glared at him while Kakashi looked up from the folder he was reading.

"The way I score it, they have at least three, if not more, jinchuriki, while you guys have none. While it's true that you have Uchiha, two eyes don't exactly work too well when you're up against three Tailed Beasts."

"You say we have no jinchuriki," said Tsunade carefully. "Are you not counting yourself?"

"I'm not a jinchuriki. The Fourth Hokage was truly a genius. I found a way to release the Nine-Tails. He's now roaming freely somewhere. In return, I got half of his chakra."

Tsunade stared at Naruto. The Nine-Tails was now free. They did not have a jinchuriki. Naruto may have half of its chakra, but would that be enough? Kakashi was handing her the folder back. She reached out and took it.

"So we're going to attack their _biggest_ gold mine?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes. We need to make sure they know that we mean business. Not to mention, this will be a major hit to their economy. If we destroy this one, their economy will be severely weakened."

"But it will be well-guarded. The biggest and most important mine is bound to demand some type of decent guard, especially during a time like this. We will need a crack team if we plan to infiltrate it," Kakashi said.

"Yes, I am sending you, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Lee. Lee should be more than enough to hold off two or three ninja while the rest of you do what needs to be done. He and Sasuke or Naruto could probably exterminate the ninja there themselves, if I'm right."

Naruto nodded. "They won't be able to handle me."

Tsunade smirked at the young man's confidence. "Very well, you will leave tomorrow with your team. Get a decent night's rest and meet at the west gate tomorrow morning at dawn. Dismissed!"

Naruto and Kakashi headed out of the office and into the street. Naruto turned to Kakashi.

"What was that threat about?" he asked the older ninja.

"Well, Lady Tsunade threatened to somehow use my favorite literary work of art to castrate me. I'm not too sure how that would work, and I'm definitely not willing to find out."

Naruto laughed. It wasn't a chuckle or a giggle, but a full laugh. Kakashi smiled under his mask at the blonde. This was the first time Naruto had truly laughed since he had returned. Kakashi then noticed the glares that the villagers were giving Naruto. He hardened his gaze and glared back, as if daring them to try something. The villagers then went back to their business, ignoring Naruto and Kakashi.

"You didn't have to do that," Naruto said calmly.

"I know, but you shouldn't have to put up with that. You shouldn't have had to before."

"I don't want pity, Kakashi."

Kakashi shrugged. "Naruto, I have something that I need to say, before we talk about your…" he glanced around before whispering, "…family."

Naruto glanced at the ninja. "What?"

"Well," Kakashi sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you don't understand why yet, but I am. I should have helped you more when you were younger. I should have been the one to train you, but I wasn't there when you needed me most. For that, I am sorry."

Naruto looked uncomfortable. "K-Kakashi, why are you apologizing? What did my childhood have to do with you? What are you talking about?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto with pain evident in his eyes. "All will become clear tomorrow night, right after our spar. I promise."

As he said this, they came up to Naruto's hotel. Naruto and Kakashi shook hands, then parted company. Naruto took the stairs to his room, thinking about all Kakashi had said. He replayed the conversation over and over in his mind, and then he thought of Kakashi's eye. It had held pain, and so much of it. What exactly was Kakashi hiding?

Naruto was now at the door to his room. He stepped inside, hugged his wife, and went over to the bed to nap. He crashed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

_Naruto's dream…_

_It was dark and murky. Naruto looked around, but all he could see were the murky shadows. Wherever he was, there was not meant to be any light. The shadows twisted and turned, thriving in the lack of the light. Naruto thought that they felt evil. This place was evil._

_Suddenly, a light to Naruto's left caught his attention. He whirled around to see Danzo, standing before him surrounded in light. He looked just as he had the last time Naruto had seen him, but there was something different about him that Naruto couldn't place. He studied Danzo for a moment and then found that Danzo was smiling. Naruto was almost blown off his feet at the revelation. Danzo never smiled!_

"_L-Lord Danzo?" Naruto asked, unsure._

"_Yes, Naruto, it is me," he said in a voice that Naruto remembered so well._

_Now Naruto was truly shocked. Danzo never called him Naruto, only Fox._

"_W-What are you doing here?"_

"_This is your dream, Naruto. Why wouldn't I be here?"_

_Naruto looked at his old mentor confused. Danzo chuckled, also way out of character._

"_Naruto, do you remember what I told about dreams?"_

_Naruto nodded. "You said that dreams are a place where we see into our very hearts. We see the things that we want most, and the things that we fear most."_

_Danzo smiled even more, creeping Naruto out. "Yes, Naruto, that is right."_

"_So, then, is this what I fear? Because I'm not afraid of the dark."_

"_Naruto, it is not truly the dark that one fears, but what is in it. You do not fear the dark, but you fear what will come from it. You see, Naruto, this does represent your greatest fear."_

"_What is it?"_

"_Now, Naruto, I think you know that. The thing you fear most is…" Danzo trailed off, waiting for Naruto to finish the sentence._

"_Being alone. The thing I fear most is being totally alone. I faced that fear not once, but twice. I was totally alone, but then I met you. You gave me a reason to fight, and you gave me the ability to protect myself. When you died, I wasn't sure what I would do. I felt as if my world was crumbling around me. Kakashi tried to help, and I respect him for that, but it wasn't enough. I continued to plunge down into loneliness. Then I met Alexis and my teammates, and I wasn't alone anymore. Once more, I had a reason to live. I began to open up more, but now I have returned here."_

"_I understand, Naruto."_

"_Lord Danzo, I will protect this village only because of you. There is no other reason for me to be back here. I hate this village. It is this village that gave rise to this darkness."_

_Danzo nodded his understanding. "Naruto, when I started working with you, I found that you have a power. You have the ability to change people, I have told you this many times. You faced all of that pain and you forced it to work for you. You used it to become strong. Naruto, as much as you hate this village, and even though it gave rise to the darkness, there was some good here. What of Kakashi? What of the Third?"_

"_The Third!?" Naruto shouted. Why should I give a crap about the Third? What did he do for me? He threw a tantrum that you were training me and killed you. The old imbecile never did anything good for me. He even made a law that no one could discuss my heritage!"_

"_Naruto, calm down. I'm sure the Third had his reasons."_

"_I don't care what his reasons were. He lied to me. He took you away from me. You were the closest thing I had to family, and he killed you. As far as I'm concerned, this village can be destroyed."_

"_You would say that about a village that you are working to protect?"_

"_I'm not doing this for them. I'm doing it for you. I honestly don't care for the Leaf. I'm doing this simply because it's what you would have wanted. After this, I plan to live in peace away from the Leaf."_

_Danzo sighed. "Naruto, your hatred is great. You have left me no choice."_

_Naruto looked confused as Danzo brought his hands together in a hand seal that Naruto did not recognize._

"_Naruto, when you trained under me, I placed a seal on you that would allow me to speak with you, but only in a time of great confusion," said Danzo as the shadows began to recede from himself and Naruto._

"_Great confusion? Then why did I not activate this seal when I first left the village."_

"_I had not anticipated the Nine-Tails to be so territorial. It stopped me from using this seal. This is the greatest confusion you have met with since the Nine-Tails left."_

_The shadows were now gone, and Naruto found himself in Danzo's memory. They were in Danzo's old office in ROOT headquarters. Danzo was sitting at his desk, while the Third Hokage stood over him. The scene was played out for Naruto. Naruto watched the sadness on the Third Hokage's face as he faced off against his former teammate. He saw Danzo challenge the Third for the Hokage's seat, and he saw him lose. He then heard Danzo's last words._

"_Hiruzen…I…I ask one last thing…Protect Naruto Uzumaki…That boy…is something else…I never believed it possible…but he was able to resist…conditioning…He has a personality…unlike the others…Also…he has a power…a power to…change others…He changed…me…He's special, Hiruzen…don't let him get away…He…He deserves to be the…"_

_Tears fell from Naruto's face as he watched the death of his mentor. The image disappeared and Danzo reappeared next to him. "What were you about to say?" Naruto asked him._

"_I was going to say…Hokage. You are different, Naruto. Much different than any other I have ever met. You could have become a great Hokage. You could have become greater than even the Fourth Hokage."_

"_Why did you show me that?"_

"_You needed to know how and why I died. I was a fool to challenge Sarutobi, but I did it anyway. I was deluded enough to believe that I was better for the village. The heat of the moment got to me. I let my hatred for Hiruzen's methods cloud my judgment and I paid for it. Do not blame the Third for my foolishness. Naruto, I hope that I have helped you cope with your past, even a little, but now I am afraid I must go. My time is short. My chakra is fading."_

"_T-Thank you, Lord Danzo."_

"_That's enough of that," Danzo replied with a chuckle. "Just Danzo from now on."_

_Naruto nodded and shook the older man's hand. "Thank you, Danzo."_

_Naruto smiled genuinely as he watched his former mentor fade away. As he watched him go, Naruto felt oddly lighter, as if some great weight had lifted from his shoulders._


	11. Chapter 10

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Good morning everyone. Merry Christmas. I wish to start today's chapter off by reminding everyone that in this story, the romance is taking a back seat. If you have complaints about how I named her or anything else about it, get over them. She is not truly important to the story. She will be about as important to the story as a filler character in the anime. If you're reading this story and seriously care that much about the name of a character who is not truly important, then stop reading and go to a different story. For those of you who must know, Alexis was a character idea given to me by a friend.**

**Now to respond to some reviews I received last night...**

**For those wondering why Danzo did not use the Sharingan in his fight, I am sticking to the idea that it was incomplete since the fight occurred in the early time of Naruto's life.**

**For those who believe that Naruto is going to immediately forgive all...nope that won't happen. He will be professional, and even friendly to _some_, but other than that, the village will earn their forgiveness. Naruto has deep emotional scars, but he is smart in the fact that he doesn't apply that hatred to everyone.**

**For what will happen to Naruto's wife while he is gone, I can promise that she will be safe...for now. Things will change in the future.**

**Finally, my last piece of info is that I will post up to chapter 14 today, I think, but based on the people (you) I will see whether or not I will continue this story. I have some other ideas for other categories, and even a story from Naruto, that I want to finish (or start in some cases). So whether or not this story continues is based on the number of reviews I get today up to New Year's. I'm looking to have at least 60 by January 22, as that is when I normally update. If I don't have that, this story will be finished (though I may place it up for adoption).**

**Thanks for reading, don't forget to review. See ya!**

**Chapter 10**

Naruto awoke in a cold sweat to see that it was now dark. He glanced to his left to find Alexis lying next to him, her arms wrapped protectively around him. Naruto gently pushed a strand of blonde hair out her face. She slowly opened one eye, and, realizing that Naruto was awake, jumped up to hug him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Why? What happened?"

"After you fell asleep, I noticed that you had a fever. I tried to wake you up for lunch and dinner to see if eating something would help, but you wouldn't wake up. I was worried."

"I'm sorry about that. I was having a dream. What time is it?"

"A little before midnight. What was the dream about?"

Naruto proceeded to tell her all about his dream and the happenings therein. When he finally finished, he wrapped his arms around Alexis and fell asleep. He awoke again just before dawn and started getting ready to leave. He wore the same outfit that he had worn to the Hokage's office, and after a make-out session with Alexis, left to meet Kakashi.

When he arrived at the west gate, Sasuke and two others were already there. They were just waiting on Kakashi. One had fairly long jet black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes, and studs on both ears. He was as tall as Naruto and Sasuke and wore a flak jacket, along with a black long sleeved shirt paired with matching pants and sandals, and green lined mesh armor on his wrists and ankles. His headband was on his upper left arm. The other had very thick eyebrows, and large, rounded black eyes. He wore his hair in a bowl cut. He also wore a horrid green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector as a belt. He wore a flak jacket on top.

"Kakashi's late again," Sasuke told him. Sasuke was wearing all black, same as he had the day they had come to get Naruto.

"Troublesome, you must be Naruto Uzumaki. I don't believe we've met before. Name's Shikamaru," said the man with the ponytail.

"I am Rock Lee!" said the one in the jumpsuit.

"Nice to meet you guys," Naruto replied coldly. As they waited, he thought back to his dream the night before and glanced around the village. 'Danzo may have died for these people, but how could he expect me to? After everything that happened…I will not forgive them so easily. I will fight with them because it is my job, but after that, nothing. No one in this pathetic village deserves anything from me, and I'll make sure that that is what they get!' he thought.

"Good to see you are all here," said Tsunade as she walked up with Kakashi. "You've all been briefed. Come back alive. Now get out of here."

The five nodded and headed out. They were going deep into enemy territory, so they would have to be careful. No fires and minimum noise once they crossed the border. After the first day of travel, they found a small clearing in the forest near the border where they would make camp for the night. They set up the tents and gathered firewood for their first and only fire. After getting everything set up, Naruto and Kakashi broke away for a spar.

The found another small clearing far enough away for them to be able to spar without causing the others in the camp to intrude and started stretching. The spar began soon after. Naruto started with a left hook, which Kakashi easily dodged. Kakashi was preparing to retaliate when he felt the wind get knocked out of him. He looked down to see Naruto's foot in his stomach. Kakashi, reacting quickly, grabbed Naruto's leg and threw him away. Naruto landed gracefully on his feet as Kakashi aimed a roundhouse kick with his left leg at Naruto's jaw. He missed as Naruto easily ducked under the kick.

Naruto now went on the offensive once again. He swept his right leg out, sweeping Kakashi's leg out from under him. The older man sprawled out, using his hands for balance. Naruto now brought his left elbow down into Kakashi's stomach, causing the man to fall to the ground. Naruto jumped back and waited for Kakashi to lift himself off the ground.

Kakashi staggered to his feet and clutched his ribs. He noticed one cracked rib. Naruto had apparently held back. He looked at the blonde and smirked. He brought his hand up and removed his headband from covering his Sharingan eye. He immediately charged at Naruto. He sent a speedy uppercut into Naruto's chin, propelling him into the air. Kakashi then jumped up above Naruto and sent an axe kick to the boy's face. The boy hit the ground hard, creating a crater from the force of the impact. Kakashi landed next to the crater and sighed.

"I expected more," Kakashi said.

Suddenly, Kakashi felt something impact his chest. He was sent flying from the force of the strike. He was about to right himself, but was instantly caught by another blow to the left side of his jaw. Next was an uppercut to his chin. He flew up into the air, and was then met by a barrage of punches and kicks. Kakashi tried in vain to defend himself, but even with his Sharingan, the attacks were coming too fast for him to see, much less react to. He realized that this was Naruto's payback to the village. Naruto was venting his anger. Finally, an axe kick met his head and knocked him into the same crater that Naruto had created, making it bigger.

Naruto landed next to the crater expressionless. He looked down at the crumpled form of Kakashi and grinned. Now that felt good! To his surprise, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before Naruto could react, he felt the cold touch of a kunai pressed to his throat.

"Got you, Naruto," said Kakashi from behind.

"No, Kakashi, you don't."

Kakashi glanced behind him to see Naruto standing with two clones. The real Naruto had a kunai to his throat. The other two had knives pointed to his back.

"Good job. I didn't expect you to react so quickly. Good spar, Naruto."

"You, too, Kakashi. Now, about my parents."

Kakashi chuckled, wiping sweat from his forehead before he replaced his headband.

"A deal's a deal. Your father's name was Minato Namikaze. He was the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized the underlying truth of Kakashi's words.

"Minato-sensei was a genius among shinobi. When he was still young, he met your mother, Kushina Uzumaki. He instantly fell in love. One day, she was kidnapped, and she left a trail of her red hair for her trackers to follow. No one noticed but your father. He saw the hair and followed the trail. He found your mother by himself and saved her. They were inseparable after that."

"But…the Nine-Tails…"

Kakashi sighed. "Yes, Naruto, he sealed the beast into his own son."

"W-Why?" Naruto whispered.

"Your father would never ask something of someone else that he wouldn't do himself. He couldn't ask something of another man that he would never do. It would have been against his morals."

Naruto listened intently and watched as Kakashi's eye took on a faraway look.

"Minato-sensei was on the verge of tears when he last spoke to me before he sealed the beast into you. He said that he wanted you to be regarded as a hero." Kakashi chuckled bitterly. "So much for that."

"That stupid village! They left the son of their greatest hero out on the streets to die! I can't believe their stupidity. One day, they'll see, Kakashi. They'll see what mistakes they made!"

A small tear fell from the older man's eye and stained his mask. "I'm sorry, Naruto. He left it up to me to protect you, but aside from scaring the villagers to death every time they tried to hurt you, I wasn't much help. Please, if anything, hate me instead of the village. It was my fault." He wiped his eye with his glove and smiled under his mask at Naruto.

Naruto stared ahead silently.

"He had wanted you to be as normal as possible. He never wanted the village to hate you. He was probably rolling in his grave when he saw that. Regardless, he would be proud of you now. You've grown, Naruto."

"Tell me about them," Naruto whispered.

So, Kakashi and Naruto spent the rest of the night talking of Naruto's father and mother. Had anyone heard the laughter shared by the two that night, they would have smiled at the brotherly bond that had formed between Naruto and Kakashi.


	12. Chapter 11

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Don't forget, if I don't have the reviews by January 22 (my A.N. from chapter 10) this story is discontinued.**

**In this chapter, we'll get a look into the true enemy of the story. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 11**

It took five more days of travel to arrive at their destination. True to the team's suspicions, the mine was well-guarded. There were close to ten guards outside the mine, which didn't bode well for how many would be inside. The team halted only a few yards from the edge of the forest, but far enough away to avoid detection.

"We need a plan, Shikamaru," said Kakashi to the Nara. The man nodded and closed his eyes in concentration.

"We need a way to knock out the outside guards unconscious," he said aloud.

"I can handle that," said Naruto.

"In that case, Naruto will take down the guards outside and keep watch while the rest of us head inside. Lee and Sasuke will run interference inside, while Kakashi and I focus on placing explosives."

The group nodded, and Naruto left to take down the ten guards on the outside. Before he began, he sized up his opponents. There appeared to be two jonin, three chunin, and five genin. Naruto chuckled at how easy his mission was.

He began by creeping up to the green-haired genin closest to the forest's edge. He pulled a kunai and slit the male genin's throat. He followed this with a quick earth ninjutsu to bury the body. His next move was to approach the next closest ninja, who was a short, brown-haired male genin. His throat was also slit and the body absorbed by the ground. He repeated this process with another blonde-haired genin and then a red-headed chunin. Naruto was quick and efficient with each victim. He tore through the chunin and jonin with ease, surprising the Leaf ninja who were watching. They were so surprised at his skill, they nearly missed their opportunity to enter when the second jonin was killed.

Shikamaru, Sasuke, Lee, and Kakashi all entered as Naruto was about to finish off the last genin. Seeing the fork in the poorly lit tunnel, Kakashi and Lee went left while Sasuke and Shikamaru went right. Sasuke and Lee quickly dispatched any foes they met along the way, while Kakashi and Shikamaru followed standard Leaf procedure of placing extra-strength paper bombs every forty yards.

Meanwhile, outside the mine, Naruto was polishing his kunai before replacing it in its holster. He was about to take up a hiding spot in case any more ninja arrived when a girl landed behind him.

"Who are you?" shouted the girl.

Naruto turned to regard the girl. She had short, black hair and pupil-less, pink eyes, which were emphasized by her eyelashes running upwards at the corners. She wore the standard attire of the Stone ninja consisting of a red uniform with her right sleeve missing and a lapel over her right leg, the brown Stone Village flak jacket, fishnet tights and a skirt over them. She also wore regular shinobi sandals and a pair of gloves. Naruto recognized her immediately.

"Kurotsuchi of the Stone Village, to what do I owe the honor?" Naruto asked.

"How do you know my name?"

"You're in the bingo book. I make sure to memorize it."

Kurotsuchi glared at him. "Are you the one who did this?" she asked.

Naruto smiled viciously. "If I did?"

"I'll take you down."

Naruto snorted. "Right," he replied sarcastically. "First of all, I'm sure that you would try to take me down anyway. Second, you don't stand a chance against me."

His relaxed nature worried Kurotsuchi. This boy looked familiar, but she couldn't seem to place where she had seen him. She was also worried about how he had managed to take down the rest of her ninja. He showed no signs of a struggle, meaning that he had taken down the ten ninja without a fight.

"Who are you?" she asked again.

Naruto chuckled. "Still don't recognize me, huh? Oh well, maybe you'll recognize this jutsu."

He stretched his left arm forward, fingertips pointing toward Kurotsuchi. He charged chakra around his arm, coating it in a bluish glow. He moved his arm to the side before disappearing in a flash of movement.

Kurotsuchi saw nothing as the blonde plunged his arm through her chest. She coughed up blood as she turned her surprised gaze toward the ninja who had just killed her.

"Chakra Cutter Jutsu," Naruto whispered as he withdrew his still glowing arm from his enemy's chest. As soon as it was free of the body, the arm ceased to glow, and Naruto proceeded to clean his now bloody arm.

"Ahhh, that was exactly what I needed. Though I wish she would have at least put up a fight. Could have been fun."

Kakashi and the others emerged from the mine just as Naruto was finishing cleaning his arm. They stared wide-eyed at the amount of blood that Naruto had wiped away.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked, eye still wide.

"Their leader showed up. She's dead now."

"What did you do? Plunge your hand through her chest?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

"Yes," Naruto said simply.

Shikamaru, who was now examining the body, recognized the girl and stared at Naruto again. "This is Kurotsuchi of the Stone Village! She's the—,"

"Tsuchikage's granddaughter. Or she was, anyway," Naruto finished.

"Y-you just killed the Tsuchikage's granddaughter!" shouted Lee in surprise.

"Troublesome…now the Tsuchikage will be after our heads."

"Not really," Naruto said. "He doesn't know that I'm working with you yet. He won't know that it was you. Just have the village blame me. I can handle anything they throw at me."

Shikamaru began contemplating if that was indeed the best course of action.

_Meanwhile…_

"Tsuchikage, I thank you for your hospitality during my time in this village. It is an honor for you and your village to support the Society. Now that you have started a war with the Leaf, they will be too distracted to be able to respond to the Society's movements."

"If you don't mind me asking, what are these movements going to consist of? I trust the Stone is safe?"

"Yes, the Stone is safe. We will not move against the kekkai-genkai of the Stone Village. Our plans will be fulfilled simply from harvesting the kekkai-genkai of the other hidden villages. Even as we speak, an operative of mine is moving to take the strongest kekkai-genkai from the Leaf Village. Once he is finished, the strength of the Leaf will be substantially weakened."

"Very well, we will uphold our end of the bargain."

_Back with Naruto…_

Naruto and the team had now made camp. Naruto was keeping watch as the others slept. Naruto had closed his eyes and allowed his chakra to reach out around him, giving him the ability to sense movement. He noticed that Kakashi was coming toward him and opened his eyes.

"What's up?" asked the silver-haired jonin.

"Nothing, just letting my chakra reach out to my surroundings."

"I see. That's a pretty amazing feat. Most ninja could only dream of having the chakra supply and control to pull that off."

"I spent a long time working on chakra control after I left the village. I had to, or we wouldn't have survived."

"'We?'"

"My team and I."

"You've mentioned your team before, but never their names. Did they die?"

"No, they are still very much alive."

Kakashi sensed the blonde's reluctance to continue. He also saw the slightest smile appear as Naruto remembered his old team. He remained silent, waiting for Naruto to go on.

"We were unstoppable. We beat both Akatsuki and Orochimaru. The three of us combined were stronger than even the Sannin."

"Don't you think that you might be overestimating yourself just a little?"

"No," Naruto replied harshly. "You don't understand, Kakashi. The three of us had a bond that even the Sannin couldn't have understood in their glory days. We were all outcasts in a sense. Even the one of us who was accepted among his people distanced himself from his village. It wasn't until the destruction of Akatsuki that people began to realize that we weren't monsters, though the Leaf is still behind on that belief."

"Monsters? Naruto, are you saying that your team was a team of jinchuriki?"

Naruto nodded.

"Who were they?"

"Gaara of the Sand, the jinchuriki of the One-Tail, and Killer Bee, the jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails."

"I've actually heard of both of them."

"That wouldn't surprise me."

"So you guys defeated Akatsuki, huh? Wow."

"We were pretty strong. That jutsu that I used today was one I created from seeing one of Killer Bee's own jutsu."

"The Chakra Cutter?"

"Yeah. I summon wind chakra around my arm, turning it into a deadly weapon."

"It was quite the technique. I was impressed."

Naruto was about to reply when he felt a new presence nearby. His eyes hardened immediately, alerting Kakashi.

"What is it?"

"Someone's here."

Kakashi nodded and leapt up, searching the clearing. He moved his hand to his headband, prepared to jerk it up if necessary. Naruto, however, told him to stand down.

"I know this chakra. It's dangerous. Wake the others. This guy could be trouble."

Kakashi went to do as Naruto said, but was stopped by a chain wrapping around his torso and throwing him crashing through the trees to the left of Naruto. From the right, a short man with black hair emerged. He wore black ninja clothes with chains wrapped around his torso and limbs. He smiled at Naruto.

"Long time no see, Nine-Tails."

Naruto growled. "What are you doing here, Saitou?"

"I'm following orders, Nine-Tails. I've been told to collect the Sharingan, which so happens to be here."

"You won't get it."

"Sentimental? About the Leaf? What have they done to you?"

"Sentimental? No. However, I am against letting my clients become crippled, and as much as I hate it, the Leaf is my client, meaning I have to protect the Sharingan."

Saitou sighed. "Very well, you leave me no choice." He extended his arm and one of the chains flew toward Naruto, bent on impaling him.

Naruto jumped above the chain and formed hand signs. He held his fingers to his lips and shot out a small fire that took the shape of a pack of foxes before charging at Saitou. Just as they were about to strike him, however, he whipped his chain around and knocked the foxes away. Naruto growled and formed more hand signs, this time creating a pack of foxes out of mud.

Saitou repeated his first action, knocking away the foxes. Now, however, Naruto was nowhere to be found. Naruto reappeared directly behind Saitou with his left arm charged with wind chakra for his Chakra Cutter Jutsu. He jabbed forward, but somehow the chains that surrounded Saitou's torso stopped the attack.

"Chains that respond to and absorb chakra. Not bad. You're definitely better than last time," Naruto said.

Saitou smirked. "I had to upgrade if I was going to take on ninja like you."

Naruto leapt away as Saitou tried to wrap his chains around him. Naruto landed on a tree branch gracefully considering his options. Naruto had faced Saitou once before, three years ago, and he was S-rank then. If he had 'upgraded,' then who knew how strong he would be now.

"You may have beaten me last time, Fox, but this time I will be victorious!" shouted Saitou.

_Flashback, 3 years…_

_Naruto and his teammates stood in the Storm Cloud Ravine in the Land of Lightning. Before them stood a missing-nin from the Cloud Village. He was an S-rank ninja in the bingo book. He was Saitou of the Lightning Chain, named so for his choice of weapons, chains that were specially made to channel lightning. _

_Naruto stood in front of Saitou with Gaara on the man's left and Bee on his right. Bee performed his Lariat, only to be knocked away by chains. Gaara used his sand to block the chains as they cycled around, giving Naruto an opening to use his Chakra Cutter Jutsu. Naruto charged, but Saitou quickly used one hand to form hand signs and summon an earth wall to stop Naruto. Naruto reacted quickly and scaled and jumped over the mud wall._

_Saitou, however, used his opportunity to send his chains underground using a Chain Manipulation Jutsu. He used his chakra to command the chains to emerge directly below Gaara and wrap him up, squeezing the life out of him._

_Naruto, now clear of the wall, had already closed the distance and brought his arm forward to strike Saitou. Saitou used his chains to block, but Naruto's jutsu cut through them easily. Saitou reacted quickly, jumping out of Naruto's reach. _

_Gaara, meanwhile, had used his sand to erode the chains and break free. He was now moving his sand forward to wrap around Saitou's legs. Bee also charged in, pulling out his swords and slashing away at any chains that came near. Summoning the Eight-Tails' chakra, his swords became enhanced and were able to slice through the chains almost as easily as Naruto's Chakra Cutter. _

_Facing eminent death, Saitou quickly formed hand signs and summoned a series of lightning bolts to strike around him, protecting him from the three jinchuriki. The sheer power behind the jutsu that he used to defend himself told the jinchuriki that he was a very dangerous opponent. Bee had to send chakra straight to his feet and force himself out of the way before a bolt hit him. Naruto did the same._

"_You may have won this time, Nine-Tails, but I'll be back!"_

_Naruto only glared._

_End Flashback…_

Naruto and his team had been unable to defeat the man, and had even had to react quickly to escape with their lives. Now his chains would be able to stop Naruto's best jutsu, and Gaara wasn't here to stop the chains from attacking.

By this point, Shikamaru, Lee, and Sasuke had all emerged from the tents and were watching the fight, intent on seeing weaknesses of the opponent. They winced as they saw Naruto get knocked aside by electrically charged chains. Naruto got back up quickly, checking to be sure that his body was still in proper working order.

Naruto chuckled, frightening Saitou and the Leaf ninja, including Kakashi, who had finally found his way back. "You know, I was considering let you live after I broke every single bone in your body, but that hit just changed my mind."

Naruto disappeared from sight as soon as he finished speaking. Saitou eyes darted around, but could not catch a glimpse of Naruto. Suddenly, a fist emerged from the ground below him, crashing into his chin and propelling him upward. His eyes had unconsciously closed during the hit, and as he opened them seconds later, he noticed that he was surrounded by a dozen Narutos who were each glowing red.

He felt a claw rip through the chains he wore around his torso. Another slashed into his back. During the next few seconds, his brain was overwhelmed by the pain signals being sent to it from nearly every inch.

Naruto finished him off by punching him into the ground from thirty feet up, then causing the red chakra that now surrounded him to form a type of javelin extending from his left arm. He felt gravity take over and begin to drag him down, and he readied himself to pierce Saitou's heart. Seconds later, Naruto's javelin struck Saitou in the heart, ending his life, or so they thought. The Saitou before them changed into a log.

"A substitution! Darn!" Naruto turned just in time to avoid a chain that had been aimed for his face. He dodged again as another chain tried to impale his heart.

"Lightning Style: Chain Voltage!"

Each of Saitou's chains began to charge with electricity, then he shot them forward. Naruto dodged left, then right, and then rolled forward. Saitou, seeing Naruto dodge the weapons, grinned, then channeled more chakra into his chains.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Web!"

Naruto's eyes widened as electricity began to flow between the chains. Naruto tried to move out of the way, but it was too late as the electricity struck him. One could smell burnt skin as Naruto was shocked by the jutsu. Finally, when the jutsu was finished, Naruto fell to ground.

"Pathetic, Nine-Tails."

"Chakra Cutter: Decapitation!"

Saitou turned just in time to see Naruto chop his head off with his chakra-enhanced arm. The Naruto who had been shocked disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing it as a Shadow Clone.

Naruto walked over to his teammates while wiping sweat from his brow, his face expressionless. "That was fun."

_Meanwhile…_

A hooded figure stepped into the room. He paused, watching the man who sat before him. The man was also wearing a cloak, though without a hood, but the darkness hid his face from view.

"What do you want, Uzumaki?"

"I've come to tell you that the Leaf is under my protection, Rage."

"Really? I thought that you had cut all ties to that place and could care less."

"I have a debt to my old mentor to at least prevent you from carrying out your schemes."

"No matter, Uzumaki. Even if the Leaf is under your protection, it will not stop my mission."

"You've been warned," said the hooded figure as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Uzumaki, to think that you would send a clone to tell me what to do. You've grown foolish. I will do as I wish. You have no chance of stopping me."

As he finished saying this, the other figure also disappeared in a puff of smoke as well, leaving the room empty.


	13. Chapter 12

**I don't own Naruto!**

**This will be one of the last three chapters posted this year. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 12**

Naruto and the team returned to the village a few days later, and immediately met with Tsunade to give a report. They had finished telling her about the mission and were now explaining the situation with Saitou.

"Naruto, am I to understand that you are familiar with the attacker?" asked Tsunade.

"Yes, ma'am."

He glanced around as if unsure of what to say next.

"Go on."

"Well, how much do you trust the people in this room?"

"They are fully trusted. What is it?"

"Saitou was an enemy I faced before, when I left the village. He was skilled, but now, with my new power, it was child's play to defeat him."

"What's so important about that that I couldn't let it slip to those in this room?"

"That's not it. It's who he works for. Saitou works for a man that goes by the name of Rage."

"Rage?" asked the Hokage.

"Yes, he runs an organization called the Society of Eight."

"I've never heard of them," said Tsunade.

"They're a relatively new group. They formed a couple of years ago. Their goal is to take the kekkai-genkai of each of the hidden villages and put them together into a super weapon."

Tsunade paled as she thought of the implications of such a goal.

"They tried to recruit me not long after their formation, but I turned them down. Rage has taken a particular interest in me. The group is extremely dangerous, and not to be toyed with. Each of its members is an S-rank ninja. To be perfectly honest, none of the ninja you sent with me could've beaten Saitou, and he's the weakest of the group."

"You said he was particularly interested in you. Why you more than any other?" asked Shikamaru. "You're strong, but there has to be stronger. No offence, but there are many out there who are older and more experienced. What about a kid interested him so much?"

"Well…you see…he's my…brother."

"WHAT!"

_Meanwhile…_

"Thank you, Lady Mizukage. We will put the ninja you've promised to good use."

"It's my pleasure, but why did you ask for so few?"

"We have our reasons. The Society does not need quantity, only quality."

"What will you do with them?"

"They will attack the Leaf."

"Alone?" cried the Mizukage. "Why on earth would they attack the Leaf alone?"

"They will have one of my own as back up. He has never failed in a mission I have sent him on. Do not worry. They will not fail in their mission."

_Meanwhile, again…_

Gaara stood above the Sand Village, watching as the citizens of the village ran about their business. He had never meant to come back to the Sand, but the death of the Kazekage had given him opportunity. According to his sister, Temari, there were a few on the council who would entertain the idea of having him be the Kazekage. Gaara smirked. The poor fools…

_In the Cloud Village…_

"WHAT!" cried the Raikage as his messenger finished reading the report from his spies.

"It's true, Lord Raikage."

"If the Leaf has recruited him, then they are truly desperate. On the bright side, this certainly makes tracking him down much easier. Get my brother immediately!"

TBNTBNTBNTBN

"Yo! You called!"

"I have a mission. You're going to represent the Cloud in a diplomatic mission to the Hidden Leaf."

"Wha!"

"They have recruited a friend of yours for help. You may remember him."

The Raikage handed him the report.

"That's pretty fine. So I'll be chillin' with Number Nine!"

The Raikage nodded.

Bee nodded in return and set out immediately, his terrible raps filling the village, much to the villagers displeasure.

_At the gates of the Leaf Village…_

Kotetsu was once again on gate duty, his least favorite job. He glanced out the gate and noticed a single white-haired man strolling toward them. Kotetsu immediately jumped up and ran to confront the man. He was halfway to the man when he realized that the man was Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin.

"Lord Jiraiya, returning so soon?" called Kotetsu.

"Afraid so, I have bad news to tell Tsunade."

"You may be waiting for a while."

"Oh?"

"She's in a meeting with Team Kakashi. They just returned from a strike mission."

"Team Kakashi? They're just a bunch of brats. Jonin, maybe, but still brats. They don't have that kind of experience yet. Why would she send them as a strike team?"

"They've got a new member. Some blonde kid that is apparently a well-known assassin."

Jiraiya frowned. "I see."

Jiraiya then left, heading straight for the Hokage's office.

_In the Hokage's office…_

"Y-Your…brother…" repeated Tsunade, shocked.

"Yes, sorta."

"Sorta?" she asked, glaring.

"Well, you see…" Naruto began scratching the back of his head. "There was a bit of a problem when the fox and I split."

"Fox?" asked Shikamaru, not following the conversation.

Tsunade glanced at Naruto, who nodded. "Naruto here was the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox. He was the boy in whom the Fourth sealed the beast."

Everyone remained silent. Most were seeing Naruto in a new light. Shikamaru finally broke the silence. "So…why isn't he still a Leaf ninja?"

Tsunade sighed. "A long list of mistakes."

"_Mistakes?_" Shikamaru repeated.

"Yes."

"Troublesome idiots."

"Excuse me?" said the Hokage.

"Lady Hokage, it doesn't take a genius to know how the village felt about Naruto and his burden. What I don't get is the stupidity of the villagers. How could they have been so stupid as to antagonize him? Where were the ninja during all of this? Surely they trusted the Fourth more than this!"

"As I said before, there were many mistakes. The ninja more often than not assisted the villagers. Fools!"

"Moving on, when the fox and I split, there were… complications. My negative emotions found a source of power in the fox's own malicious chakra. Somehow, my negativity combined with the fox's evil will and the malicious chakra created its own host. In the end of the exchange, I ended up with half of the Nine-Tails' chakra and Rage got the other half."

Tsunade gasped. "Then that means…"

"Yes, we have another chakra beast on the loose, and this one holds ill will toward the Leaf. Not to mention the fact that it can actually think on the level of a human and use jutsu."

"So what about the Nine-Tails' itself?" asked Kakashi. "You said before that it was free."

"It is, but now it's just a harmless woodland creature."

Everyone sweat-dropped.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" demanded Tsunade.

"Why would I? It wasn't relevant!"

"Relevant! This involves the Leaf! He wishes to destroy us!"

"Tell me, _Lady Hokage_," he spat the title. "Do you personally keep tabs on every single enemy that the Leaf has ever made?"

Tsunade looked taken aback.

"There are hundreds, no, thousands of people out there who hate this village. People you've never heard of. You've bought my services, Hokage, so that means that the Leaf is under my protection, no matter how much I hate it. As long as I'm being paid, I will protect it from all harm."

"I-It's you!" came a voice from the door.

The group turned to see Jiraiya standing before them, utterly shocked.


	14. Chapter 13

**I don't own Naruto!**

**This will be the second to last chapter posted this year. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 13**

The next three days passed in a blur. Jiraiya, upon seeing Naruto, ran up to him and hugged him in front of everyone. This action shocked everyone from Sasuke to Tsunade. Naruto tensed at the contact. Jiraiya seemed to have noticed this and stepped back immediately. When Naruto had looked into his eyes, he had seen tears. The old sage had been about to cry.

The white-haired man had said only two words to Naruto, before he turned and left to collect himself. "I'm sorry."

Naruto and Jiraiya had spent the three days together. Jiraiya had told him more about his parents, and that he was his godfather. Jiraiya had even taken Naruto out into the nearby forest to teach him a couple of jutsu. One of these was the Rasengan. Jiraiya's eyes had nearly popped out of his head when he saw Naruto finish the jutsu in a little under three hours. He also gave Naruto the toad summoning contract and explained that the Rasengan was still incomplete.

Naruto, for his part, was beginning to enjoy the older man's company. Surprisingly to Kakashi and Tsunade, Naruto appeared to be letting Jiraiya in. Little did they know, Naruto's cold exterior was slowly melting. Being around Kakashi, who had treated him as a human being, and being accepted by the Leaf ninja around his age had given Naruto a _slightly_ better opinion of the village, but a very slight one. It also helped that the shinobi had been particularly accepting of Alexis. She was enjoying her stay here, and each day would tell Naruto about some young genin running up and giving her flowers, or of a jonin or chunin helping her find her way around the village, thus protecting her from the villagers.

It was around noon the fourth day since Jiraiya had arrived that a chunin messenger came to Naruto to alert him that a force of Mist ninja were approaching and that Tsunade had requested his presence. He arrived in the Hokage's office only a moment later, and met Sasuke, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Lee, and Neji, who would be joining him in an advance team.

"Your mission is simple," said the Hokage. "We know the force is not that large, maybe twenty ninja, so I'm sending you six to confront them. We're hoping that you and a few ANBU can distract them long enough for us to get the villagers out of the way in case reinforcements are on the way. The ANBU will be there a few moments after you. Good luck, and don't die!"

The group nodded and left. Kakashi took point, followed by Naruto and Sasuke on his left and right, Shikamaru and Lee behind him, and Neji in the back. They ran ten minutes before meeting their enemies.

The twenty Mist ninja all appeared to be around jonin level and in their twenties. They grinned when they saw the small number of Leaf ninja that had come to meet them. At the front of the mist ninja was what the group considered to be a giant. He was at least seven feet tall and had bulging muscles. He wore no shirt, and had long black hair that reached to his waist. He sneered at Naruto.

"Nine-Tails, surrender and we will kill you slowly."

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Great idea! As opposed to…say…killing me _very _slowly?"

Sasuke chuckled, while the others sweat-dropped. The large man looked as if he would blow a fuse. He charged at Naruto, somehow transforming his arm into a scythe, surprising Naruto's team. Naruto himself, however, was not surprised as he quickly jumped over the man, drawing his katana in the same motion. The group was surprised to see the man's other arm change into a sword and collide with Naruto's own sword. Naruto twisted his body and formed the Rasengan that Jiraiya had taught him and slammed it into the man's back. Naruto jumped back from the force of the attack but was surprised to see that his opponent hadn't even flinched.

"Ninja Art: Body Spears Jutsu!"

Large dark pinkish spears flew from the large man's body and pierced Naruto's arms and legs, knocking Naruto down and pinning him to the ground. Naruto struggled to get up, but only caused more blood to pour from his wounds.

Seeing his enemy's plight, the man charged for Naruto, changing his arm into a sword, intent on running Naruto through. He brought his arm up and prepared to bring it down, only to be intercepted by another sword. He turned his head to see a raven-haired man stopping his attack with seemingly little effort.

"Not today, ugly," said Sasuke as he held off the giant.

"How dare you! No one stops Giant from killing his enemies!"

Sasuke sweat-dropped. _Giant_?

Naruto, meanwhile, was shocked. His former teammate had saved his life. It was something that he never would have expected from the Leaf Village. Naruto watched as Sasuke began striking out at Giant, attempting to find and exploit any opening or weakness. Giant was actually being forced into a defensive battle from the ferocity of Sasuke's strikes.

Sasuke blade sliced beautifully through the air in a deadly arc. He had swung at every possible opening, but every time, including this, he had been blocked by one of Giant's transformed hands. He swung again, but was blocked. Sasuke frowned and broke away from his enemy. He focused chakra to his eyes and activated his Sharingan. Viewing his surroundings through his enhanced vision, Sasuke saw everything slow down. He watched as Giant was now moving toward him, seemingly in slow motion. Sasuke smirked and charge forward. He thrust forward with his blade, but was shocked to find that it would not pierce Giant's torso.

"What in the—,"

Sasuke was unable to finish as a giant fist caught him in the jaw and threw him aside like a rag doll. Sasuke bounced on the ground several times before finally coming to a stop, unconscious.

Giant grinned at his victory and charged toward Naruto. Naruto closed his eyes. He focused on his inhuman chakra reserves and found his half of the Nine-Tails' chakra. He mentally grabbed the mass of energy and willed it to explode through his wounds. He built up the pressure as fast as he could, increasing not only the pain from each wound, but also the blood flow. He bit his lip and continued focusing his chakra.

Finally, in an explosion of chakra and blood, the spears were pushed from his body, and Naruto was free to move. He rose shakily and willed chakra to surround him and take shape. The chakra responded and became a fox cloak around him. It continued to swirl as each detail formed. First the ears, then the claws, then a total of five tails. The cloak remained transparent, showing Naruto's menacing fangs and darkened whiskers. Naruto smiled, a bone-chilling sight.

Naruto roared, sending Giant flying. Then, Naruto charged, slashing away with his chakra claws. Giant's hard skin was no match as Naruto's claws tore into him. He screamed in agony as Naruto ripped and shredded his torso.

"DIE…NINE-TAILS!" shouted Giant between his screams of agony. With a burst of chakra, Naruto was blown backward, a large spear sticking out of his chest. He staggered backward, trying to figure out what had happened. He stared at the weapon now protruding from his body and clawed at it, trying with all of his might to remove it, but the weapon, sensing his attempts to remove it, shot out barbs around its tip, digging in and causing even more pain to Naruto. The fox cloak receded and left a wide-eyed Naruto. He fell back, red chakra disappearing entirely.

Kakashi, Lee, and Neji, who had finished off their opponents, stared in shock at the body of their fallen comrade. Giant stood up, blood gushing from the wound in his torso, and began laughing.

The Leaf ninja, aside from Kakashi, lowered their heads in respect for the fallen. Kakashi, however, fixed a glare on his enemy. In an inexplicable fit of rage that he would never be able to fully explain, he charged a Lightning Blade and ran at Giant with such speed that even Neji and his Byakugan couldn't see.

Giant, however, did see Kakashi coming and dodged. Kakashi was undeterred and created a Lightning Blade on his other hand. He swung it at Giant, who avoided it as well, but only just. Kakashi continued trying to slash Giant. His chakra was almost gone, but still he pressed on. Slash after slash, dodge after dodge, the two continued at unbelievable speeds. Finally, Kakashi, having had enough, focused all his chakra into his eye, hoping for a last ditch effort at Kamui.

"You…" he spat, scaring the other ninja present with the harshness in his voice. "I'll kill you! I've lost too much! Now it's YOUR TURN!"

Suddenly, black fire erupted from Kakashi's eye. It struck Giant in the torso and sent him flying backward. Even after he landed, the flames continued to devour him. They ate away at the screaming man until he was nothing but ash. Kakashi, weakened from the attack, collapsed.

Lee, Neji, and the others were in awe of Kakashi's speech and skill. Most were speechless, except for Lee that is….

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF YOUTH JUST HAPPENED!"


	15. Chapter 14

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Chapter 14**

Kakashi awoke to an immense headache. He slowly opened his right eye, feeling his headache get worse as his eye adjusted to the midday sunlight.

"Ohh…my head! What happened?"

"Good, you're finally awake," said a voice to his right. He turned his head to see Yugao Uzuki sitting next to his bed with a small romance novel that she had been reading.

"W-What are you doing here?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"I heard what happened, Kakashi. I thought you could use a friend," she said with a grin.

"About what happened, do you think you could fill me in? It's a bit hazy….and…how long was I out?"

"A week, and sure, I'd be glad to fill you in, but only on one condition."

"Which is?" he asked, still rubbing his head. He felt as if he would pass out any moment.

"A date, once you're out of the hospital, of course."

"Sure, whatever…wait…w…w…wha…."

Kakashi was unable to finish his sentence as the darkness consumed him yet again. Yugao simply grinned.

"About time, Hatake!" she said with a giggle before she went back to reading her book. "Oh Hideki you are such a flirt!"

Had Kakashi been awake, he might have noticed the cover slip off her book and reveal a copy of Make-Out Tactics.

_Meanwhile…_

Sasuke sat on the head of the Fourth Hokage. He hadn't been sure why, but after Naruto had left, he had started coming up here. At first, it had been chakra control training. He would climb up on top of the monument and hang off of the Fourth's spiky hair. One day, as he was hanging upside down, he began to wonder just who the Fourth Hokage was. He had known that the man was the Yellow Flash, but he wanted to know more.

_Flashback…_

After training, he went straight to the library and checked out a book about the man who was the most feared shinobi in history. In this book, which was a collection of memories of those who were close to the man, Sasuke found many interesting details, such as the fact that Minato Namikaze had been chosen over Orochimaru of the Sannin as Hokage. Sasuke also learned that he had been Kakashi's sensei.

While the history of the Hokage was somewhat interesting, it wasn't what Sasuke wanted to know. Sasuke had wanted to know what had made the man so strong. He wanted to know what influenced the man to create the most feared jutsu in the history of the ninja world. He wanted the secret to power.

Sasuke grunted and slammed the book shut. As he did, he noticed a single page fall out. He picked it up and saw that it had been ripped out and then folded and placed in the back of the book. He decided that he would read the page and skimmed over the first few words. His eyes widened as he continued down the page.

"I-It can't be! T-There's n-no way. I-I don't believe it!"

Sasuke ran out of the library as fast as he could. He ran straight to the Hokage's office. He barged in without stopping, much to the secretary's displeasure.

"Tell me the meaning of this!" Sasuke shouted at the old man, holding out the paper.

The old Hokage glared at the boy and was about to reprimand him. He opened his mouth to speak as he took the paper and began to read.

"Sasuke Uchiha, I don't know…Oh, I see," he said as realization dawned on him. The old man smiled as he looked at Sasuke.

"Sasuke, do you not recognize your own father's name?" asked the old Hokage, still smiling.

"OF COURSE I DO! THAT'S WHY I'M HERE!" the boy shouted.

"Calm down, Sasuke. It is no real surprise that your father would write such a thing. He knew Minato quite well. They worked together quite often as jonin."

Sarutobi looked down at the paper again. It was a short word from Fugaku Uchiha about the philosophy of Minato Namikaze. It spoke of the man's will to go on no matter what the odds. It spoke of his kind and gentle heart, and finally, it spoke of his philosophy. Sarutobi read this portion out loud.

"_Once, in my youth, I decided to ask Minato about the source of his strength and will to fight. The man smiled at me and said that above all of his training, his knowledge, and his wisdom, what made him truly powerful was to protect that which was precious. The source of his strength was his will to protect and nurture the Will of Fire until it grew into a wild blaze of glory._

"_In my foolishness, I ignored him, but that was a great mistake. It was only a week later that his girlfriend at the time and a young child of the Uchiha clan had been kidnapped by a Stone ninja. Minato and I were sent to recover the two by any means necessary. It was that day I saw Minato Namikaze at his most fearsome._

"_With such speed that even my Sharingan could not see, he backhanded the man holding his girlfriend and sent him flying, pulling his girlfriend from the man's arms just as fast as he had attacked. I was shocked. He had done this much without the need of the Flying Thunder God Jutsu. Next he turned his glare to the other kidnapper, who was holding my two-year-old son, Itachi Uchiha. The kidnapper now had a kunai at my son's throat._

"_Minato pulled out a kunai and said, 'You will not harm the next generation. I will protect the Will of Fire with every breath in my body, even if it means taking yours!' With his signature jutsu, Minato disappeared, pulling the kunai away from my son's neck and teleporting the boy back to me. Before I could say anything, Minato disappeared again and slammed a Rasengan into the gut of the kidnapper._"

Sasuke remained silent after the old man finished. Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe and spoke again.

"Maybe you understand now, Sasuke. Itachi was wrong in what he told you. You have it on the words of your own father. The secret to strength is not hatred, but love. You must protect what is precious to you. If you truly wish to become strong, train to protect what is precious to you from Itachi. Train so that a tragedy like the Uchiha massacre can never again plague the world. Train to protect the world from such pain as you felt."

Sasuke nodded. He left that day with many thoughts plaguing his mind.

_End flashback…_

Sasuke smiled at the thought of his younger, foolish self. Now, he fought for something different. He fought to protect people from enemies like his brother. He had grown strong as well. However, all of his strength had been useless against his last opponent. He had done everything possible, but he had failed. Worst of all to him, he had failed his comrades. If he had been stronger, he might have might prevented…

"Sir," said a chunin who appeared next to him.

"Hmm?" said Sasuke, not happy at being interrupted. Sasuke hated being a squad captain. Today was his squad's day to work the gates. This brown-haired and brown-eyed chunin was one of Sasuke's three teammates. Sasuke mentally sighed as he realized that even though he was on light duty, it didn't excuse him from commanding his team.

"There's a man at the gate. He wears a Cloud headband and talks in rhymes. He says he's here to see Mr. Nine, whoever that is."

"Cloud, huh? Let's meet this guy."

_Meanwhile…_

Tsunade sat in her office mulling over the attack. All of the Mist ninja had been defeated, but at a great cost. Kakashi was left unconscious and out of commission for at least a week, and Naruto was in even worse condition…if he survived.

She clenched her fist in frustration. "Stupid idiot! I give you one simple order and you couldn't even do that right."

"What's the matter, Tsunade?" asked a voice from behind her.

Tsunade turned to see Jiraiya sitting on her window sill. He wore a serious face, which was never good.

"Naruto, he went and put himself in a coma. We don't know if he'll survive."

"Is the Nine-Tails' chakra not helping?"

"While it still has incredible healing properties, without the fox, or a conscious Naruto, to guide it, it's nowhere near what it could be. Now, why are you here, pervert."

"My spies are sending in reports about a new group of shinobi that are making themselves known in the north and west. The news is…troubling."

"What is it?"

Jiraiya took a deep breath and let it out. "The group is strong. One member of this group annihilated an entire clan in Cloud."

"W-What?"

Jiraiya nodded. "He took one prisoner, who I guess they're using for that extraction process."

"To wipe out an entire clan…Naruto was right."

"About what?" asked the white-haired man.

"He said that this group was extremely powerful. He said that one could take Sasuke or Kakashi down easily. If one of the members was able to take out an entire Cloud clan, then I am inclined to believe Naruto."

Jiraiya nodded. "I'll have my spies keep me informed."

As Jiraiya was about to leave, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter!"

Sasuke opened the door and stepped inside.

"Lady Tsunade, we have a visitor from the Cloud. He calls himself Killer Bee," Sasuke said, his eyes seemingly saying, 'Help me or I WILL commit suicide.'

Tsunade nodded, curious. "Send him in."

Never in her life had Tsunade regretted anything more.


	16. Chapter 15

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Okay, due to a very special person who sent me a private message, I will continue this story without the (insane) number of reviews I mentioned before. That was more of a test to see what kind of response I would get, but I intended to keep the story for much less. In reality, the number of favorites, followers, and hits I received was startling. I thank everyone for reading this story and supporting it as you have. I apologize for my bit of insanity last time and don't worry, this story will continue until I am finished with it. Enjoy the first chapter of 2013! **

**Chapter 15**

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, taking in his surroundings. He saw that he was in a white hospital room. Multiple complicated-looking machines were hooked up to him. He glanced to his right and saw Alexis sleeping in a chair next to his bed. She was covered with a blanket that the hospital must have dug out for her. Her eyes were puffy, and he could see what appeared to be stains where her tears had dried on her face.

Naruto turned to his left and looked out the window. The sun was just rising over the walls of the village. He heard a sigh and rustling back to his right, then a gasp.

"Naruto!"

Before he could react, he was tackled in a hug. Alexis was crushing him.

"I was so worried! They said you might not survive."

"I-I still might n-not if you don't…let…me…b…breath…"

Alexis blushed and jumped off of him. "Sorry," she said, embarrassed.

"It's okay."

"So, how do you feel?"

"Like I was run over by a stampede of horse summons."

Alexis giggled. "You must be better than that if you can still make jokes."

Naruto smiled. "I'll be better in no time," he said, giving her a foxy smile.

They sat in silence for a few moments, as Naruto's memories of the fight swept over him. As he came to the end, he brought his hand up to his chest and felt the scar that had been left from the spear.

"Guess the chakra wasn't enough to heal it entirely," he said matter-of-factly.

"Naruto, I saw it right after the fight. They tried to hide it, but I saw. You were all but dead. Even the Hokage was surprised you were still alive."

"He missed."

"W-What?"

"He missed."

"Missed what?"

"My heart. He was just inches to the right. Just a little more and even I'd be dead. I don't understand…"

"N-Naruto, what are you talking about? You're acting like you should be dead."

"I should be. I don't know how he missed but he did. I shouldn't be alive. I wasn't strong enough."

"Oh no," said Alexis, exasperated. "You're going to do that again, aren't you? Honestly, Naruto, do you even think about me?"

"Of course I do! Why do you think I do this?" Naruto shouted back.

"Naruto, you can't just leave me like that again. Do you know what it was like last time? I thought you were dead!"

"But this time, you know I'm not!"

"Naruto, please, _please_ don't do this again."

Alexis began to cry, and Naruto felt his heart break. He sighed.

"Alright, Alexis, you have my word. I won't leave on another training trip."

Alexis let out a sigh of relief, just as there was a knock on the door. It opened and in walked Tsunade. "Naruto, good to see you're awake," she said, seeming much more relieved than the situation required.

"Yeah…what's up?" he asked carefully.

"You have a visitor. Come on in!" she said.

The door opened a little wider and in walked a large man with dark skin and a muscular build, as well as white hair and a goatee. On his right shoulder, he had a tattoo of the kanji for iron, and on his left cheek, he had a tattoo of a bull's horn. He wore oval shaped sunglasses and a white-colored forehead protector. He also had his a one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket, and a long, red rope belt tied around his waist, hand and shin guards, shinobi sandals, and a white scarf around his neck.

Naruto instantly understood Tsunade's relief and grinned. It took a special kind of person to be able to put up with Killer Bee himself.

"What's up, Bee?

"Just chillin'!" Bee paused, then said, "What the crap happened to you?"

"The Society."

"Ouch…"

"What about you? Why are you here?"

"Diplomacy's the name of the game. The big man ordered, and that's why I came!"

"…."

"…."

"…."

"Uhhh…what?"

Naruto just burst out laughing. The rest, aside from Bee, who was confused, joined him.

_Meanwhile…_

Gaara stormed into the council chambers in the Hidden Sand Village. His sand followed him on the ground in the shape of a snake. Gaara allowed the sand snake to slither up his body and rest itself around his neck. He glared at each of the council members in turn, letting each of them feel some of his killer intent.

"I want to know why I wasn't informed of this _immediately_?" he asked roughly.

"You are not Kazekage, boy! You have no right to know of such things," spoke one middle-aged man, who was wearing clothes that had obviously cost a goodly portion of the villagers' taxes.

The sand snake around Gaara's neck hissed at the man, causing him to recoil in fear. "I do not care what rank I hold in this pathetic village. I'm the strongest here, so there's no reason why you should be hiding such important information from me."

"Until recently, boy, you were a missing nin. Do you take us for fools? We would never allow such a dangerous potential enemy to know such information. You've lost your mind," spat another, younger, councilman.

"Actually, you are fools. All those years, you could have inspired my loyalty; however, you instead chose to cause pain to me. As it stands, I could easily dismantle this village as an act of revenge, however, I do not because of certain individuals. I stand here before you offering my services. I will personally go and handle this 'issue.' In return, you will approve Lady Kazekage's idea of me becoming a jonin in this village, if I still wish to be one after this mission."

"What is going on here?" shouted an angry female voice from the hallway outside the chambers.

Gaara rolled his eyes. His fun was over. She wouldn't let him continue to bully the council. If only he'd had a few minutes…

His line of though was interrupted as the door to the chambers was blown off its hinges. It crashed into the opposite wall, along with the ANBU who had been guarding it.

"Gaara, I told you to meet me in my office before addressing the council," said the Kazekage as she stepped in wearing her robes. Her hat was carefully lowered to hide her grinning face.

"Lady Kazekage," one of the women began. "This vile monst—,"

"SILENCE!" shouted the Kazekage, using the wind to knock the woman from her chair and onto the floor.

Gaara sighed. "You know, I can kill them myself if need be, Sister."

_Meanwhile…_

Kakashi finally awoke from his sleep. He sat up and began rubbing his head.

"I had the strangest dream. I dreamed that Yugao asked me out on a date."

"That was no dream, Hatake."

Wide-eyed, Kakashi turned to see the girl in question sitting next to him.

"W-What was that about?" he half-shouted.

"I've been waiting for the right moment to ask you out, Hatake, but after this mess, I decided that I'd do it as soon as you woke up. Lady Tsunade even supported my decision."

"L-Lady Tsunade?" Kakashi asked with a sweat-drop.

"So, I guess we'll discuss the details of our date as soon as you're out of this hospital."

"Great….So do you think you could tell me what happened during my fight now?"

"Sure," Yugao said cheerfully. She then told Kakashi everything she knew of the attack.

"So, I guess I have a new jutsu to practice," Kakashi said, more to himself than to Yugao. "What happened to Naruto?"

Yugao cast her gaze downward. "Well, he was severely injured. They don't know if he'll make it."

Yugao felt a gust of wind, and looked up to see that Kakashi had gone. Her eyes widened at the speed of the injured man.

_Back in Naruto's hospital room…_

Naruto and Killer Bee had been regaling Tsunade and Alexis with stories of their past battles.

"So Naruto said," Bee began before he felt a chakra signature about to shunshin into the room. He put a hand to his sword, until Naruto waved him off, recognizing the chakra.

Kakashi instantly appeared. "Naruto!" he said when he saw the blonde lying in the bed.

"About time you showed up, Kakashi."

"Y-You're okay!?"

"You sound surprised."

"I heard that you were badly injured."

"I was, but now I'm fine."

It was only now that Kakashi noticed Killer Bee. Naruto introduced the two and they shook.

"Good to meet one of Naruto's…" Kakashi trailed off as he collapsed onto the floor.

Tsunade smirked. "Idiot. He knew better than to use chakra so soon." She called for another medic and the two of them carried Kakashi back to his own room, leaving Killer Bee and Naruto alone. As soon as the door was closed, the mood between the two old friends sobered.

"The Society, huh?"

"Yeah, and they're definitely a threat. They'll be coming for the Sharingan soon enough."

"Are you gonna tell Sand-Man?"

"I'll send a clone. Until then, you and I will have to hold them off."

"I didn't think you would get involved so…deeply."

"Normally, I wouldn't, but Rage is my responsibility. Besides, it's not like anyone else could take him. As it stands, the Leaf isn't even strong enough to defeat his henchmen. Kakashi got lucky."


	17. Chapter 16

**I don't own Naruto**

**Here is yet another chapter of Naruto the Broken Ninja. Also, there is now a poll on my profile page asking what Alexis' name should be changed to as that has been an unpopular name. Cast your vote, review, and enjoy the rest of your reading.**

**Chapter 16**

Gaara wiped the sweat from his brow, glancing around him to prepare himself for anything. He had just crossed the border into the Land of Fire, when he was attacked by bandits. He had whipped his sand around him into a miniature tornado, which deflected the shuriken that a couple of missing ninja had thrown. He had dealt with the group quickly and efficiently, using his sand as his only weapon. He formed his sand into a deadly rain. He wouldn't even be sweating right now if it hadn't been for the fact that he had just left a desert not long ago, and his sand armor was still red hot.

He focused a small amount of chakra into his hand and formed his sand into his third eye. He sent the eye high into the sky and used it to look across the horizon. He smiled as he saw his target a long ways away. It wouldn't be long now.

_Meanwhile…_

Asuma sighed. Today just wasn't his day. He had just wanted to spend the day with Kurenai, but instead, he was stuck babysitting a couple of chunin on a border patrol mission. He glanced back at his team, who was following him closely through the trees. One was a young Hyuga named Hinata. She wore a heavy jacket over her training clothes. She seemed constantly nervous. The other was an Aburame named Shino. He was one of the best trackers the Leaf had. He wore a blue trench coat and a pair of dark sunglasses.

Normally, Asuma would never take a mission like this, but today was different. Reports had indicated that there had been increased bandit activity in the area, and the Hokage wanted a jonin to check things out. Naturally, since Asuma was free, he had been sent.

Suddenly, Asuma sensed a large chakra presence approaching. He whipped out his trench knives and signaled for his team to prepare as well. The three watched as a red-headed boy emerged from the tree line in front of them. He was young, but he had green eyes that spoke of pain. He had soft features and had a large gourd-shaped object strapped to his back. He wore a burgundy shirt and black pants. He stopped when he saw them and stared at them.

Asuma wasn't sure who this kid was, but he did know that he was dangerous. His eyes told of much pain, but also of much experience. Also, the calm manner in which he held himself even when staring down possible enemies was worrisome. Asuma had faced seasoned warriors who weren't this sure of themselves. This meant one of two things: either this kid was way overconfident, or he was _that_ good. Asuma really hoped it was the first.

"You are of the Leaf Village. Good, I am on my way to see your Hokage. She and I have business to discuss," the boy said with a monotone voice.

"What business do you have with the Hokage?" asked Asuma.

"That is not your business, unless you are the Hokage."

"I'm not, but at least tell us your name and where you're from. I don't see any headband."

"My name is Gaara. I am coming from the Sand Village."

"Are you a ninja?"

"Yes, but as of this moment, I have no affiliation with any village."

"So you're a rogue?"

"No, I am simply a wanderer. I have long been disowned by my home."

"I see," said Asuma, not sure how to proceed. He didn't want to let this kid anywhere near the Hokage, but he wasn't sure he had a choice. Sighing, he made his decision.

"I'll escort you to the Hokage myself."

Asuma turned and started back toward the Leaf. A quick glance at the Hyuga girl told him that she must have some sort of crush on the newcomer. Her eyes were downcast and she was blushing. Asuma glanced over to Gaara and saw that he, too, had noticed. Asuma grinned. This would be interesting.

_Back in the Leaf…_

Tsunade was sitting in her office doing paperwork when Shizune told her that Asuma and his team was there to see her. She told the young medic to send Asuma in. She was surprised to see a fourth member of the team.

"Who is this?" she asked, referring to the redhead in the group.

"My name is Gaara. I am here to see you about a friend of mine."

"Who is your friend?" asked Tsunade, pretty sure she already knew.

"Naruto Uzumaki. I am here to work with him."

"I assume you have done so in the past?"

Gaara nodded. "He and I worked together to bring about the downfall of Akatsuki."

Tsunade nodded. "He's currently in the hospital. A Cloud ninja named Killer Bee is speaking with him."

Gaara's eyes widened. Then he smiled and nodded. He bowed to the Hokage and left the room.

"So they're together again."

Tsunade turned to see Jiraiya sitting in her open window.

"You could use the door, you old pervert."

Jiraiya grinned. "Where's the fun in that?"

"What do you know?"

"That I got my butt kicked by one of these Society members."

"What else?"

"That Naruto is strong. He's stronger than us. It will be very interesting to see how good these three are."

"Do you know where one is?"

"Currently heading toward Waterfall."

"Why?"

"Beats me."

"Hmmm."

"Tsunade, the Stone is mobilizing. They aren't happy at all."

Tsunade sighed. Things were going to get really hectic.

_One week later…_

"We'll need to get ready to get out of here," Naruto told his former teammates. They nodded in return.

Naruto and Kakashi had just been released from the hospital four days prior and had immediately begun to train. They were now preparing to lead a mission to Waterfall, who had sent an emergency message asking for backup against a Society member who was attacking them.

Naruto, Kakashi, Gaara, Sasuke, and Killer Bee were the team that would be leaving in the next few minutes. As soon as they were all together and prepared, they took off at an incredible speed. Why would they move so fast? The reason was because Waterfall had only one Kekkai-Genkai, and it was a strong one. The Waterfall Kekkai-Genkai was a water ability that allowed the user to change a part of his body to water at will. It was a powerful Kekkai-Genkai, and Naruto was determined to help the village.

_Two days later…_

It took the group only two days to arrive in the Waterfall Village. What they found upon arrival was a shock to all of them, however. The mountain which held the Waterfall Village had been crushed. The group began to investigate, and found that there were no bodies in the ruins of the village.

"No bodies? Does that mean they all escaped?" asked Sasuke.

"Maybe…" Kakashi said, unsure.

"Welcome! You must be the backup squad. I have to thank you for bringing me what I needed. Combined with the Kekkai-Genkai of this village, the Sharingan will make sure I am rewarded by my master!"

A tall figure emerged from behind one of the taller piles of rubble. The group were surprised to see that it was a woman. She was fair-skinned with pupiless brown eyes. She had green hair that she tied in a bun on top of her head with a hair needle running through it and short and long strands of hair with orange tips framing each side of her face. Her current outfit consisted of a sleeveless, backless top and short tight pants. She wore an obi around her waist, as well as purple arm-warmers which extend up to her shoulders. She also had bandages around her tights and ankles.

"If it isn't Pakura," said Gaara in his monotone voice. "I'm surprised to see you alive."

"I'll spare you the details of how it is and get to the point of obliterating you scum from the face of the earth!"

Gaara smirked evilly. "Just try it," he said, his sand already creating a defensive barrier.

"Scorch Style: Incinerating Flare Jutsu!" shouted Pakura, forming multiple reddish-white fireballs into a single, larger fireball, which she fired at the group.

"Everyone get clear!" Naruto shouted, and everyone but Gaara jumped away.

Killer Bee, noticing Gaara didn't move, shouted back, "Yo, Sand-Man, move your can!"

Gaara slowly shook his head and moved his sand to intercept the giant fireball.

"Is he crazy?" shouted Sasuke. "That thing is way too strong to be stopped by a bit of sand."

Naruto smirked. "You'll see."

The giant fireball struck the sand and exploded. The explosion was massive, and Naruto and the others had to jump back even farther to avoid it. They shielded their eyes, and as the explosion finally ended, they were once again shocked at what they saw.

Where the sand had risen to stop the fireball, the immense heat had now changed Gaara's sand to glass. Pakura smirked. Gaara remained impassive.

"So much for your great defense."

"Fool, did you really think that I could only use the sand in my gourd? I can use any and all sand around me. Prepare to die! Sand Viper Strike!"

As Gaara said this, the sand on the ground around Pakura rustled and took on the form of snakes with long fangs. The snakes immediately lunged at Pakura, who jumped away. Pakura performed a back flip in the air, and as she was about to land, she rapidly dodged to her left, avoiding a massive lightning strike from one of Killer Bee's jutsus.

"I forgot, there's a whole group of you. Guess I'll need some backup after all. You can come out now, Number 4."

As soon as she had finished, a new figure emerged next to her. He was just as tall as Pakura, and was wearing a long black trench coat. He had spiky red hair and wore a burgundy shirt and black pants under his coat. His eyes were red, like Kurenai's. On his back, he had a long katana that had a handle with red and gold trim. He wore a cocky smirk on his face as he looked at Naruto and the others.

"Shinji, one of the strongest rogues from the Rain Village," Naruto said. "It's nice to meet you at last. I always wanted to test my abilities against yours."

"Then I'm sorry to say that it won't be much of test," replied the man in a cocky tone.

"We'll see. Bee, you help Gaara. Kakashi, Sasuke, you help me with Shinji, but be careful. Offer support only."

The two Leaf ninja nodded and prepared themselves to back Naruto up. Naruto drew his katana and lunged at Shinji, who drew his own katana, which had a silvery blade. Naruto slashed his katana diagonally to the left at Shinji, who simply brought his katana up in a lazy block. Naruto swiped back down the length of Shinji's body, but was lazily blocked again. Naruto glanced to Shinji's eyes and noticed that he was bored. Growling, Naruto pulled his katana back up in another diagonal slash, this one to the right. Shinji, still bored, deflected it with a weak slap of his own sword. Seeing the large opening in Naruto's form due to his deflection, Shinji decided to end it quick by slashing horizontally at Naruto's chest. He flicked his blade, but Naruto jumped back by sending chakra to his legs.

Annoyed, Shinji channeled chakra into his sword and flicked it, sending out chakra projectiles toward Naruto, who rolled to his left to defend himself. Naruto then forced chakra into his legs in order to move faster. In a blur of speed that Sasuke could only see due to his Sharingan, Naruto was on Shinji, his sword coming across horizontally to chop off Shinji's head. Shinji, for his part, yawned, bringing his own katana between Naruto and his head. Shinji's katana stopped Naruto's easily.

"I expected more. So far, you're putting me to sleep."

Naruto growled again and tried to kick Shinji in the ribs, but Shinji was faster, breaking away from Naruto and creating distance between the two fighters. Sasuke, seeing an opportunity, moved quickly to Shinji's left and formed hand signs, preparing for a Fireball Jutsu. Just as he released the jutsu, Shinji smirked and flicked his sword in Sasuke's direction, creating a wave of air that exploded when it struck Sasuke's jutsu. Because the jutsu had not gotten far away from Sasuke, he was blown back. He rose to his feet slowly, Sharingan active. He looked up just in time to see Shinji moving toward him, too fast to stop. Seeing this, he knew he had no choice. He channeled chakra into his eyes and activated his best defense.

"Susanoo!"

The giant violet ghostly skeleton emerged around Sasuke, its skeletal form blocking Shinji's sword from getting any closer.

"Now die!" Sasuke shouted as his Susanoo brought down its large glowing sword on Shinji's head.

Shinji grinned. Now things were getting interesting. He rolled away from the massive sword that had tried to crush, then quickly dodged to the left as Naruto's sword slashed at the space he had just occupied. Now it was Kakashi's Lightning Blade coming at him from behind. He rounded quickly and grabbed Kakashi's wrist with his free hand. He quickly reversed his grip and threw Kakashi like a javelin toward Naruto, who used his shunshin to appear just past Kakashi as the Copy-nin flew toward him. As soon as he appeared, he threw his arm back and grabbed Kakashi's leg, swinging around and lowering him to the ground.

While this occurred, Sasuke used his Susanoo's bow to fire a large arrow at the unsuspecting Shinji. Shinji, feeling the surge of chakra, turned just in time to see the arrow only a few feet from his face. As the arrow collided with the former Rain ninja, a giant explosion shook the area.

Sasuke smirked, deactivating his Susanoo, while Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. Naruto, on the other hand, was glaring at the spot where Shinji once stood, waiting for the smoke clear. Kakashi noticed his hesitation to celebrate and uncovered his Sharingan. What he saw caused his eyes to widen.

"N-No way!" he said in complete shock.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

He was answered by a massive Mud Dragon that emerged from the smoke. On top of the dragon stood Shinji, who was holding his head with his free hand, covering his left eye, which was surrounded by blood.

"That actually hurt. Had it not been for my best jutsu, I might have actually died. You guys really are interesting," he said before laughing as if he had lost his sanity.

"W-What?" shouted Sasuke in disbelief. "How did he survive that?"

"His best jutsu," Naruto replied, "is a powerful spatial manipulation technique."

"You mean like the Flying Thunder God Technique the Fourth used?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No, that's space-time manipulation. Shinji's jutsu isn't that good. Instead, he can manipulate areas in space. I'm guessing he used his jutsu to shrink the space that Sasuke's attack occupied, thus saving himself."

"But how would that work?" asked Kakashi. "The blast still should have killed him."

"I know…I guess he might have used his jutsu to compress the air around him into some form of shield, but other than that, I'm at a loss."

Shinji finally removed his hand from his eye, revealing that it had been forcefully and painfully removed. "A very impressive jutsu. Normally, I could have compressed the jutsu into nothingness, but that one was too much. I didn't even have enough time to create a complete shield from the air," he said to the ninja. Then he added to himself, "Can't afford another one of those. Takes too much chakra."

Naruto lifted his katana and charged at his injured enemy, slashing vertically downward against his enemy, who jumped back quickly. "Face it, Naruto, you don't stand a chance against me."

"We'll see!" Naruto said before charging back in.


	18. Chapter 17

**I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto's such a lucky guy…**

**Hi! I'm back. A little later than I had intended, but I'm back. I'll be releasing two chapters today (chapters 17 and 18) to make up for being late. That will be one chapter late by about two weeks and another early by about two weeks. Now onto business. I have a poll on my profile page which lists a few different names for Alexis, Naruto's fiance in this story. If you don't like it, now's the chance to do something about it. If you don't like the names, send me a PM with your idea and I'll add it to the poll. This poll will last until April 22, which is the day I plan to release chapter 19. If everything stays to plan, that will be the next time I mention Alexis. That day I will close the poll, replace the name, and post chapter 19. **

**Next, for those of you who are curious about how long I intend this story to be, it his close to half way through its intended story line. I may add more ideas to it, or keep what I have. Actually, today, as I was writing, I came up with a few more chapters to add to my original plot, so we shall see.**

**As always, read and review! Princechaz2011**

**Chapter 17**

As Naruto and the others fought with Shinji, Gaara and Bee commenced their fight with Pakura. Gaara used his sand to wrap around Pakura, but found that it was an exploding clone. He felt a presence behind him and turned just in time to be struck by Pakura's fist.

Bee, seeing his friend in trouble, drew a sword and charged at Pakura. He slashed his sword, but Pakura was faster, moving out of the way and forming hand signs. She sent a Fire Bullet at Bee, who countered by firing a lightning bolt from his fingers. The Fire Bullet and lightning bolt collided and blew up, sending both Pakura and Bee back several yards. Gaara now sent a sand snake straight for Pakura, who moved her head to the left, dodging the attack. This momentary distraction took her eyes from Bee, who used his incredible speed to move in for a kill move. He coated two of his swords in lightning chakra and lunged forward with them. Pakura managed to catch the flash of movement and jumped above Bee. She twisted as Gaara fired multiple sand shuriken at her, dodging them all, and then brought her heel down on Bee's head in a devastating axe kick, only for Bee to collapse into a puddle of ink. She back-flipped as Gaara fired off more sand vipers, but didn't realize that she was moving towards Bee's trap. Bee emerged from underground, intending to strike her with his Lariat. Seeing this, she coated her body in fire and countered his lariat with a punch of her own. There was a massive explosion from the collision of chakras, and Bee was sent flying toward Gaara. Pakura was sent in the opposite direction. Gaara used his sand to catch Bee out of the air and right him.

"Thanks, Sand Man," Bee said, rhymes forgotten in the heat of battle.

Gaara nodded, surprised that Bee had not rhymed his reply. This was a testament to how serious he was taking this fight. "Bee," he said, "what's she doing?"

Bee nodded and glanced at his opponent. Across from the two, Pakura had gotten back up and formed hand signs. When she finished, she screamed out the name of her jutsu.

"Scorch Style: Extremely Steaming Murder!"

When she called out the jutsu, she spat out three orbs of yellow fire that circled around her, then sent them toward Gaara and Bee.

"This won't be good," said Gaara. "If those hit us, they mummify us."

As the orbs sped closer, Gaara brought up his sand shield to protect him and Bee, little did he know that this was exactly what Pakura wanted. As the sand shield rose, Pakura made her move. She created three clones that went to surround the dome of sand. Then, she and her clones began forming hand signs, waiting for Gaara to drop the shield. As soon as Gaara felt the impact of the fireballs, he used his Third Eye Jutsu to look outside the dome.

"Just as I thought," he told Bee. "She's waiting. Use your Earth Style to drag us underground. Then, I'll drop my sand shield while we get behind her and attack."

Bee nodded and commenced the plan.

Outside, Pakura smirked as the shield began to drop. As soon as the top of the barrier began to collapse, Pakura nodded and she and her clones released her Scorch Style: Incineration of All Creation. Each clone fired off a massive blast of reddish-white fire, creating a massive explosion that shot debris in all directions. Pakura smirked at her victory, dispelled her clones, and began to walk toward the center of the explosion to see if there was anything left of her enemies when she found she couldn't move. She gasped when she looked down and saw that her feet were now enclosed in sand.

"Sand Coffin," said a voice behind her, and the sand began to crawl up her body and wrap around her. She struggled to get free, but it was no use. The sand now made it to her neck and continued to wrap around her. She gasped as she felt the weight pressing against. She tried to breathe, but the pressure on her body was too great. She screamed, and Gaara chose that moment to end it.

"Sand Burial!"

Under the ninja's direction, the sand compressed. Bee and Gaara could hear the cracking and shattering of bones and a few moans of pain, then finally, the sand began to twist and turn, shredding the contents. The smell of blood filled the air, but this went unnoticed by the two seasoned ninja. Finally, Gaara released the jutsu, and several chunks of Pakura's body fell to the ground.

It was at this moment that Gaara felt as if something was off. He was proven correct as a massive heat wave hit the two. They looked up and saw a massive ball of white fire heading straight for them. The size of the object was incredible, as big as one of the faces on the Hokage monument.

"My sand won't be able to stop that."

"And I can't take us far enough underground to protect from a direct hit."

"Guess I have no choice," Gaara said with a heavy sigh. He instantly began forming hand signs before finally slamming his palm to the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Pakura smirked from her spot in one of the nearby trees. It didn't matter what they summoned now. It couldn't help them. This jutsu was too powerful. Suddenly, she was overcome by a massive killer intent that shook her to her very core.

"WAAAHAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAA! FREEEEEEDOOOOOMMMMMMMM! FREE AT LAST! WHOA! THAT'S NOT GOOD!"

To Pakura's shock, directly under her massive fireball stood the One-Tailed Shikaku. Caught up in his freedom, he had, at first, not noticed that a massive ball of white-hot fire was coming straight at him, but now he moved the sand around him to intercept the attack.

"WHAT FOOL DARES TO TRY AND STOP ME WITH SOMETHING SO PATHETIC AS THIS?"

Pakura watched as the sand obeyed him, whipping around the fireball with incredible speed. The sand spun and spun, slowly reducing the size of the fireball by putting out some of the fire. More sand added to the mix, and soon, the fireball was gone. All that was left of it was a mass of red-hot sand.

"NOW TO TAKE MY REVENGE ON THIS PATHETIC WORLD! AHAAAHAAAHAAHAAAAHAAHAAHAAAA ! WAIT! NO! YOU CAN'T! PLEASE! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO!" shouted the giant beast as he disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Pakura wasn't sure what to do now, but then she noticed that Gaara was now unconscious. With only Bee left, she had a chance. She jumped out of the tree and drew a kunai, and then charged at Bee.

Bee saw her coming and drew his sword. He countered her thrust with a parry of his own, then slashed at her with a second sword, cutting her across the chest. She tried to slash again, but Bee was more experienced in weapon battles, and quickly cut off her hand. He finished by quickly and cleanly decapitating her. Then he began rapping.

"Yo say HO! Know my name, know my fame, don't be lame! Eight tails , that's me da rappin Killer bee! A tailed beast resides, inside my hide! You can't beat me, cause I'm Killer Bee!"


	19. Chapter 18

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Here is the second chapter I promised today. Don't forget about the poll on my profile page! Read and Review! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 18**

Naruto attempted to strike Shinji with a right cross, but was easily blocked. Next, he tried an uppercut with his other hand, but that was easily blocked as well. In an attempt to create distance and give himself some breathing room, Shinji kneed Naruto in the ribs, causing him to stumble back. Shinji jumped back to catch his breath, but was forced to roll to his left as Sasuke tried to strike him with a Chidori. He rolled to his feet, then kicked Sasuke away. Kakashi immediately emerged from the ground directly below Shinji, attempting to strike him with his own uppercut. Shinji rolled again to his right, then brought his katana back in an attempt to slash Kakashi.

Kakashi accepted his defeat and awaited the pain, but was surprised when he heard the weapon strike metal. He flipped away to see that Naruto had protected him with his katana, and was now engaging in a kenjutsu battle with Shinji.

Naruto was impressed. For a guy missing an eyeball, this guy was incredible. He was able to dodge everything they threw at him, and his skills were even on par with Naruto's own. Naruto slashed horizontally, but Shinji blocked it. Shinji followed with a diagonal cut to Naruto's face, which made contact. He smirked slightly at this, before frowning as Naruto disappeared into a puff of smoke. He heard a chirping sound behind him and turned slightly to avoid being impaled by Kakashi's Lightning Blade. He then felt heat from behind him and turned to see a massive fireball coming toward him, courtesy of Sasuke Uchiha. He brought up his katana and smacked the jutsu away, then stumbled as Kakashi kicked one of his legs out from under him. Naruto then joined the fray, bringing a Rasengan to bear on his enemy.

Shinji quickly used a substitution to replace himself with a nearby chunk of debris from one of the buildings. Naruto's Rasengan shattered it, then Shinji struck Naruto in the back with an axe kick, only for Naruto to turn in the air and catch his foot. Shinji's eyes widened as he saw this, and then felt a presence behind him. He glanced back to see Kakashi coming with a kunai. Now he felt another presence in front, and glanced ahead to see Sasuke charging as well. Deciding on his plan of action, he brought his other foot down onto Naruto's face, and, using his face as a platform, kicked off, jumping higher into the air. Naruto crashed to ground, but was quickly up again. Kakashi stopped next to him. Sasuke had jumped up and was now engaging Shinji in a taijutsu fight.

Sasuke was impressed with his opponent's taijutsu prowess. He punched left, and it was blocked. Kick upward, blocked as well. Right hook, still blocked. Uppercut with left, avoided. In retaliation, Shinji threw a punch into Sasuke's core after the uppercut, which Sasuke caught with his right. The two continued to punch and kick, before finally separating for breath. Unfortunately for Shinji, Naruto and Kakashi were ready.

Kakashi formed hand signs and used a Water Dragon Jutsu. Naruto jumped on the jutsu's head and rode it into battle, katana drawn. Shinji jumped up onto the dragon with Naruto and began fighting with him. The slashed at each other, but were both able to avoid being hit. Naruto now swiped horizontally across Shinji, which Shinji avoided. Knowing he had left himself open, Naruto continued the motion and went into a flip kick, which managed to catch Shinji's jaw. He fell back, off of the dragon. Naruto followed, coating his sword in wind chakra to create a spear-like weapon. He plunged the weapon into Shinji's gut, but Shinji then became a log.

Catching Shinji's replacement with his Sharingan, Sasuke now pulled his own katana and charged it with his Chidori. He flicked his sword toward the tree in which Shinji was hiding, creating the Chidori Senbon and forcing Shinji from his hiding spot. Shinji jumped down and charged toward Sasuke with his katana ready to decapitate Sasuke. He stumbled as Kakashi used an earth jutsu to break up the ground.

Now Naruto formed his own hand signs and shot a Drilling Air Bullet at Shinji, who knocked the bullet aside with his katana, then used his sword to send an air wave toward Sasuke, who had been preparing another Chidori. Kakashi took his chance and charged his chakra into his eye, changing it to the Mangekyo. Shinji sensed the space around him begin to compress as it was being sucked into another dimension. He dodged just in time to avoid Kamui, but his sword was lost to the other dimension.

"Darn you!" he shouted at Kakashi. "I actually liked that sword."

He was about to say more, but was interrupted as Naruto plunged his sword through his chest, only for Shinji to disappear in a puff of smoke.

"A clone!" Kakashi exclaimed.

Now Shinji appeared behind Kakashi, a kunai at the Leaf jonin's throat. Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise.

"This ends now," said Shinji. "You will surrender the Uchiha or Kakashi will die. Take your pick."

"Naruto," Kakashi said, looking at the blonde. The two made eye contact and Kakashi nodded. Naruto drew his weapon.

"Die," said Naruto as he disappeared.

Shinji's eyes widened in complete surprise as a sword was pushed through Kakashi's body and into his own. Unknown to anyone, a single tear escaped Naruto's eye as he removed the blade from Shinji and Kakashi. The two fell over, dead. Naruto quickly wiped the tear away and turned back to Sasuke.

"Guess that's over," he said in as much of a voice as he could muster.

"Not bad," said a voice. They both turned to see Kakashi, who had already recovered his Sharingan, approaching from nearby.

"K-Kakashi!" exclaimed Naruto. "But how? I stabbed you!"

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Nope! You stabbed my clone."

He gestured to his own body on the ground, which instantly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"You replaced yourself. When?"

"When I realized that he had a clone, I assumed he would come for me next, since I warped his sword away with Kamui, so I went ahead and created a clone to replace myself with."

"Not bad, Kakashi. I didn't expect that."

"Naruto, we're finished."

Naruto turned to see Bee approaching with Gaara over his shoulder.

"What happened?" asked Naruto, worried for his friend. Kakashi and Sasuke looked on with wide eyes as they realized that Bee had not spoken in a rhyme.

"He had to summon the One-Tail."

"Ouch! Was she that much trouble?"

Bee nodded.

"Well, I guess that's that. Let's take a rest before we go find the villagers."

The group agreed and they found a good place to make camp for the time being. Not long after, all but Bee had fallen asleep, napping before the big search.


	20. Chapter 19

**I don't own Naruto.**

**IMPORTANT!**

**Okay, everybody, here's chapter 19 of Naruto the Broken Ninja. I want to thank those who voted in the poll, and I am pleased to announce that "Nami" won the poll, so the name Alexis has been changed to Nami. It won by a large enough margin now for me to go on and close the poll. Also, something came up, so at the moment, it is doubtful that I will be able to post again this month. If I am not able, I hope to return to this story in May, as that is my next deadline.**

**Also, I have a new story that I plan to release in June, should I have no major setbacks. I am planning this story to be my best yet. I am still working on the title. On my profile page is a new poll about what type of pairing the story will have. Once again, if there is another option you would like to see, feel free to PM me about it. For NarutoxSakura fans, I apologize, but with what I have planned for the story, that couple just wouldn't fit. Please vote! Thanks!**

**Now, read, enjoy, and review.**

**Chapter 19**

Back in the Leaf Village, things had been quiet for the first two days. Tsunade had decided to let Lee and Neji escort Nami through the village. They were currently at the last clothing store Nami wanted to visit before lunch. Lee was holding the bags from the last six stores they had visited. Had it not been for his training with Guy, he would have collapsed an hour ago.

"If you don't mind me asking, Mrs. Uzumaki, why must you have so much clothing?"

"Call me Nami, Lee, and Naruto and I are coming into quite a large sum of money, and with that kind of money, I'm going to need some nice clothes."

Neji shook his head as he watched Nami shop. He had had to use his Byakugan a couple of times to see if she actually had access to her chakra. She could outlast most kunoichi in shopping, which was quite a feat. She finally finished and checked out. They had just stepped out of the building when a giant explosion shook the village. People began running through the streets, away from the Hokage's mansion.

"W-What's happening?" shouted Lee and Nami in unison.

Neji activated his Byakugan, and instantly paled. He pointed to the Hokage monument.

"Look," was all he said.

Lee and Nami turned to the monument and gasped. They had turned just in time to see the Fourth Hokage's head fall from the monument. Several ANBU ran by the group, muttering something about Stone ninja.

"Lee, take Nami with the other villagers. I'm going to find Lady Tsunade and help in whatever way I can."

Lee nodded and grabbed Nami, throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her toward one of the safe-houses. Lee was running at top speed, trying to get there as fast as he could so that he could help his village, but he was suddenly stopped by a few Stone ninja. The leader wore his headband on his forehead and wore brown clothes under his flak jacket. He appeared to be a jonin. He had black hair and green eyes. The first of two on the left wore green clothes under his Stone village vest. He had red hair and yellow eyes. The second on the left wore dark navy clothes under his vest. He had brown hair and gray eyes. Finally, the one on the right had burgundy clothes under his jacket and silver hair and green eyes. None of them looked truly formidable to Lee.

"Look what we have here," said the leader as he licked his lips, looking at Nami. "We might have some fun here after all, guys."

Lee sat Nami down and told her to stay back, then he took a taijutsu stance and glared at the leader, who frowned.

"You look like a smart man," he said, earning a quiet snicker from one of his men, whom he glared at. "Tell you what, if you walk away and let us have the demon's whore, we'll let you live."

Nami began to sob, sure that Lee would leave her in order to save his own life.

Lee broke his stance and stood stock still, causing the leader to grin.

_Flashback…_

"_Alright, Lee, today we're going to discuss a new move," said Guy. He and Lee were at the training grounds. It hadn't been long since Lee had made chunin, and now Guy said he had one final taijutsu move to teach Lee._

"_Lee, this move is extremely important. It is only to be used in conjunction with the Eight Gates, as using it any other way will end up hurting you. It is called the Fist of the Mighty Lion."_

_The rest of the day consisted of Lee and Guy training as hard as possible. At the end of the day, Guy spoke to Lee once more._

"_Lee, remember, only use this move to protect others."_

"_Yes Guy-sensei!"_

"_Lee!"_

"_Guy-sensei!"_

"_Lee!"_

"_Guy-sensei!"_

_End flashback…_

Lee's head came back up and he glared at the Stone ninja with a new passion.

"That is most unyouthful!" he shouted, disappearing from view.

He reappeared behind the leader of the four, who he kicked into a building. The other three attempted to help their leader, but Lee was faster. He rounded on them, fist flying toward the closest attacker. He successfully hit the one on the left, sending him flying into a building. The other two, now afraid of this strange enemy, jumped back, forming hand signs as they did. They both completed their hand signs in minutes, sending giant globs of mud at Lee, who rolled out of the way.

Now Lee charged toward the two, fist at the ready. He punched the one on the right, causing him to go flying across the ground. Now, there was only one left. He used his earth chakra to strengthen his fist as he punched Lee in his ribs. Lee was sent flying back as the punch hit him. He slowly got up and felt his abdomen.

'One rib broken, three cracked. I'll have to get that taken care of soon.'

He watched as his enemies regrouped. The leader and the one he had punched across the ground had rejoined the one who had just punched him.

Lee, seeing them all prepare to use a ninjutsu, unlocked the first gate and used the move he had learned from Guy.

"Now I will show you my flames of youth! Fist of the Mighty Lion!" Lee yelled.

The group of Stone ninja were surprised to see the chakra mold around Lee's fist. The chakra took the shape of a lion, running next to Lee. The three stone ninja never stood a chance as Lee struck. A massive explosion occurred as Lee struck his target. When the smoke cleared, Lee was standing over his enemies with a grin of victory. He turned to Nami and smiled.

She smiled back. "T-Thank you, Lee. I was sure that you would leave me."

Lee frowned for a second, then gave Nami the nice-guy pose. "Why would I ever do that? Not only would it be most unyouthful, but Naruto would also kill me. I definitely don't want that!"

Nami giggled, and Lee picked her up and carried her to the closest civilian safe-house.

_Meanwhile, with Neji…_

"Rotation!" Neji shouted as he once again used his ultimate defense. He had ran here to the Hokage Mansion, but had had to start fighting immediately. The Stone ninja were swarming over the top of the mountain, and they were attacking everything in sight. He dodged as a kunai went flying by his head, then ended a Stone ninja with a Gentle Fist strike to the heart. He glanced around him and noticed that there were no more ninja, ally or enemy, in the area. He activated his Byakugan and searched the area, finding the Hokage and Jiraiya on top of the mountain with a group of ANBU fighting off the Stone ninja.

He ran to join them, knocking out an enemy shinobi just before he could plunge a kunai into the Toad Sannin's back. The Sannin glanced back and grinned.

"Thanks for the help!"

"Anytime, Lord Jiraiya!" Neji replied. "How are we holding up?"

"As well as can be expected," the Sannin replied as he punched a hole through a Stone ninja's chest. "I don't know why there aren't more higher-level ninja leading them, though."

Neji nodded as he grabbed a kunai out of the air behind him and used it to block a dozen incoming shuriken. "They do seem somewhat disorganized."

Tsunade, who had been using her monster strength to punch through anything, and anyone, in her path, joined the two. "Jiraiya, where are the leaders? Have you seen any?"

Jiraiya shook his head as he jumped over a fool who tried to knock his legs out from under them. He proceeded to land on the man, making sure to break a few bones in the landing. "I haven't seen anyone. I wonder where they are?"

Tsunade sent one of the enemies flying off into the sky with one of her punches. "Neji, use your Byakugan and tell me if you see any base or anyone leading these gutless fools. Jiraiya and I will cover you!"

Neji nodded and began looking around. While he searched, Jiraiya used his Earth Style: Dark Swamp Jutsu to stop a few of the incoming shinobi in their tracks. For her side, Tsunade exhaled a poisonous gas, killing those who came close enough.

"Anything yet Neji?" she said as she found a second to catch her breath.

"Nothing, ma'am. W-Wait…oh no! You won't like this at all."

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked as he broke a ninja's neck.

"This isn't the main attack."

"What!" both Tsunade and Jiraiya asked as they killed the next wave of ninja.

"The main force is heading for the north gate."

"Do we have anyone in the area?" Tsunade asked as she caught a shuriken that had nearly hit Neji, crushing it in her grip.

"Well…I see Lee, but other than that, not many. Just a few scattered chunin. Worse, the safe-house closest to the northern gate was the one we were using, meaning there are a bunch of civilians and genin in the line of fire."

"Darn! Tsunade, one of us needs to get down there!" Jiraiya shouted as he crippled yet another ninja.

"You're right," she yelled back, ripping a man's heart from his chest. "But we seem to have our hands full."

"We'll send Neji," Jiraiya yelled back, slamming a Rasengan into a ninja's gut.

"Good idea," Tsunade replied, breaking an arm. "Neji, your mission is to find Lee and work with him and whatever available ninja to protect the north gate. Jiraiya or I will join you as soon as possible! Now go!"

Neji nodded and kicked off the mountain, heading for Lee. It didn't take Neji long to get to his green-clad friend.

"Lee, we've got a mission. The main force is heading for the north gate. We have to work to protect the citizens while they move out of the way. Then, we'll fight the Stone ninja."

Lee nodded and sped off to help move the civilians and genin, while Neji kept a look out. Soon, Shikamaru, Asuma, and Shino arrived. With this group, Neji felt much more confident in their ability.

"The main force is about five minutes out," he said. They'll be assaulting this gate, and we need to be ready. Asuma-sensei, I'll let you take point."

The older ninja nodded and gestured toward Shino. "Shino, you help Lee and the genin evacuate the citizens. Neji, keep a lookout. I want to know where they are at regular intervals."

The two younger ninja nodded and got to work immediately.

"Shikamaru, get me a plan. Explosives, wires, pain, whatever you got. I think we'll need it."

Shikamaru nodded and settled into his thinking pose. That being done, Asuma created a mud clone and sent it to find any other shinobi who could help. Asuma then jumped to the top of the gate and formed a few hand signs, creating a large wall made of earth.

"Three minutes, Asuma-sensei," Neji said. Asuma nodded and composed himself, then watched as Shikamaru began setting explosive tags at specific areas. Asuma immediately joined him. The two placed as many tags as they could.

"Two minutes…"

"Shikamaru, what are you planning?"

"There aren't that many of us. These will at least cause some damage if we have to make a hasty retreat."

Asuma nodded, then noticed that his clone had returned, bringing Choji Akimichi, Tenten, and Kiba Inuzuka. At this point, Lee and Shino returned from helping the citizens as well.

"Alright everyone," Asuma said as Neji told them that they had one minute. "We're facing a strong enemy here. We're outnumbered, so prepare yourselves and do your best. We will not let this village fall! Am I clear!"

"Yes, sir!" they all replied.

"Good, Tenten and Shino, get to high ground and give support. Everyone else, here we go!" Asuma said as the first ninja jumped over the wall. He was quickly dealt with by Kiba, who had thrown a kunai.

As soon as the first was down, they started coming over the wall by the dozens. Lee and Kiba charged ahead, knocking out as many as they could. Neji and Choji stood back from them, taking down as many of those that got passed as they could. Asuma was next, fighting his hardest while Shikamaru backed him up. Above them, Tenten and Shino were using their abilities to knock out anyone who tried to escape.

Lee was being overwhelmed by their numbers. For every one he knocked through a building, five more would take his place. He made quick work of some, but others were able to keep up with him, if only slightly. Seeing his predicament, Lee took off his weights and opened the first two gates. He then began ricocheting around the area, knocking aside the ninja like they were punching bags.

Kiba was also surprised by their numbers. He and Akamaru were able to take out a lot of their enemies using Fang-Over-Fang, but every time they used it, they were left open to attack. They resorted to using Man-Beast Clone taijutsu, which was effective at the moment. Akamaru slashed his clawed hand across the face of one attacker, who Kiba then finished off by impaling the man with a kunai.

Neji was facing even more shinobi than he had when he had worked with Jiraiya and Tsunade. He struck down one of the ninja who got passed Lee with a kunai, then used his Rotation to repel a few other enemies. He struck as many chakra points as he could find, but he was slowly wearing down. With his Byakugan, he saw a shinobi approaching from his left rear. He twisted and struck the man's heart with his Gentle Fist, killing the man.

Choji used his Expansion Jutsu and began smacking around his enemies like they were rag dolls. He had just swiped away a few Stone ninja who had gotten too close. He heard someone coming from behind and began to spin, similar to Neji's Rotation. He allowed his chakra to spread out around him and used his clan's prized Human Tornado technique. The Stone ninja, who had never seen such a jutsu, were either killed by it or ran away in fear.

Asuma enhanced his trench knives with wind chakra and began slashing throats. He turned to his left and decapitated a ninja, then back to his right and cut off a few limbs. He jumped back to avoid a barrage of shuriken, then formed a hand sign and spat a Fire Bullet at the shinobi who threw them, killing him on impact. He then turned around and sliced another nearby ninja's throats. Another tried to attack him from behind, but was stopped by Shikamaru's Shadow Possession Jutsu. Shikamaru then used his jutsu to break the man's neck. Asuma nodded to Shikamaru to express his thanks, then got back to work.

Tenten was throwing weapon after weapon at the attackers. She had struck a few dozen already, but it had not mattered overall. There were still too many. She threw another shuriken, striking a ninja who had nearly stabbed Lee, then threw another at a man near Neji. Seeing that some of the ninja were going around their little battlefield, she threw a few exploding kunai in their general direction. She grinned evilly as she heard the bombs go off and the screams of the Stone ninja.

Shino was handling himself quite well. His bugs were feasting on chakra. He had at least three on every ninja still alive. He released more and more bugs into the area and fed them more and more chakra. He watched as one of the enemies dropped dead due to chakra exhaustion. A small group of Shino's insects then found their way to another ninja and began draining him as well.

The group could only hope that reinforcements arrived soon.


	21. Author's note

Due to events in my personal life, I am sorry to announce that I will be unable to continue on fanfiction. This story will now be placed up for adoption. For those who wish to adopt, you can PM me to discuss. To all of those who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed my story, I thank you. As of today, due to some circumstances, I have no intentions of returning to fanfiction in the foreseeable future. The reason behind this decision is deeply personal, and as I said before, I am truly sorry. Thank you for your support,

Princechaz2011


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